Coming Home Again
by whothefrickleisbucky
Summary: Tony Stark is fifteen years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father he hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When his genius gets him into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries he's offered a chance to make enough money to possibly get away. TW for Violence Against Children (such as Abuse, Kidnapping, and Torture), Drug and Alcohol Abuse
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note - This is a story I wrote on ao3 over the summer and I had a lot of fun with it so while I'm writing up the sequel I decided to post Part 1 up here so you guys can read it. Let me know what you think!**

Tony was a bundle of nerves. He was sitting in the nicest limo he had ever been in, the only limo, and eating snacks he couldn't even pronounce. The only problem, he was sure he was here for only one reason. He had hacked into Justin Hammer's "secure" bank information last week. Hardly took him any time at all. He didn't take a lot, just enough to feed him for the month. His parents were busy with the bills.

So when the limo pulled up next to him on his walk home from Burger King and he was pulled inside by the goon stereotype, he was scared. Then when he saw richest man in America, Justin Hammer, sitting across from him, he mentally kicked himself and calculated his best chance for survival of jumping out of a moving vehicle.

"Kidnapping is illegal." Tony smiled at the man. Hammer picked at his teeth and looked down at him.

"So is stealing money. _My_ money." He held out candy bar to the boy. "Honestly, it was quiet impressive. When we traced the signal to your shitty little apartment and got all the information on the happy family. We thought it was one of your parents but your dad is too focused on his drinking he can hardly keep his job and your mom- well she's lovely." Hammer smirked as Tony glanced around and pretended to read the foreign writing on his candy.

"I won't tell if you don't." Tony eyed Hammer while he fidgeted between the large man who threw in and the locked door. The older man's smile widened.

"You're 15, kid?"

"Yes, but not a kid. I did manage to get into your oh so secure bank account. Didn't you set up that security yourself?" Tony glared. He knew he should learn to keep his mouth shut. He was _kidnapped_ and he couldn't help himself. He pulled out his phone.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Hammer said as he straightened his tie, anger filling his eyes. "Little kids go to school."

"Shouldn't you be updating your network security? Just gained access to Hammer Industries Secure Files. What is 'Project Mare'?" Tony held up his phone. He was an idiot. A genius, but an idiot. Anger the scary people who picked you up off the street, brilliant Tony. "Graduated last year."

"I like you." Hammer murmured. The sharp look in his eyes said otherwise. The limo pulled up in front of his building. Tony grimaced at the thought of all the wrong people who will see him climb out of here. "I have grown up things to go do, but I'll keep in touch."

OOOOOO

With that the door unlocked and Tony was shoved out. As he frowned at the limo speeding away he was tempted to stick his tongue out (okay, he did). Then he noticed how dark it was.

Tony ran into his building and ignored the smells of beer and piss. He ran up the stairs and down the hall, stopping just outside his door and listened. He heard the quiet whir of the tv and the angry mumblings of his dad on the other side. With a deep breath he entered.

His mom was passed out on the couch with a small stream of drool dripping off her chin, nothing surprising. Howard was watching some comedy through the static of their television, empty bottles of beer at his feet.

"Where the hell have you been?" Howard said as he glanced up.

"Nowhere. Just being productive." Tony said. Trying to quickly slip past and get to his room. Howard stood and grabbed him by the arm.

"I asked you where you've been." Tony tensed up, recognizing the look in his father's eyes. Drunk anger. He couldn't get out of this no matter what he said.

"I was just out getting something to eat." Tony whispered. It was the truth, usually the truth hurt less.

"Are you saying I can't provide for my family? You could eat here." Howard's grip tightened and he slammed Tony against the wall.

"There isn't anything here! You blow everything on alcohol and mom spends it all on drugs!" There is was again, his mouth. And there was what it usually brought him, a fist to the gut.

"I work my ass off at that damn garage so you can live here. You're just ungrateful." Another fist, this time to the jaw. Howard stumbled back then. Falling into his chair and reaching for his beer.

Tony locked the door to his room after he entered. He left the light off and slowly made his way through the maze of books he had stacked around. Once he fell into his bed he simply held his stomach and rubbed his jaw until he fell asleep.

OOOOOO

The next morning had its usual feeling of wrongness. Howard would be at work, fixing cars making the apartment seem peaceful. His mom would be scrubbing the kitchen and humming to herself. Tony touched her shoulder gently after she had been washing the same spot on the counter for ten minutes. She blinked at him with a gentle smile and went back to her scrubbing.

Tony sat down in front of the tv with his engineering textbook. He may not be able to afford college, but he could still learn. The news was talking about how the Avengers saved the west coast from an invasion of lizard people. Tony chuckled and flipped his book open when his phone vibrated.

_Kid,_  
><em>I'm done with my grown up things so why don't you leave the playground and come join us for lunch. We have business to discuss.<em>  
><em>JH<em>

Great. First, he hacks into the bank account of one of the richest men in the world. Then, just to show off, into the servers of the company that builds weapons for the military. And now he wants to have lunch? Tony was sure he was getting arrested. Or killed. Either way he was still being mocked. Couldn't stand for that.

Twenty minutes later he was in another limo, which he decided was the worst vehicle in the world. It took him straight to one of the tallest buildings Tony had ever seen with "HAMMER" written across the side. He went straight to the top where the billionaire apparently lived in a penthouse that cost more money than Tony knew he would ever make in his life.

"Ah, Tony Stark. Lovely to see you again." Hammer sauntered over to pat him on the back. Tony tensed, but quickly relaxed. "Meet one of my board members, Obadiah Stane." A large bald man walked over and shook his hand.

"I heard so much about you, Mr. Stark." Stane grinned coldly. Tony had a bad feeling about both of these men. He was most definitely going to be killed. Learned his lesson. Never hacking again.

"Well, lunch is already on the table." Hammer dragged Tony by the shoulder to a large dining room with windows taking up the entire wall. Tony slipped out from under his grip to look out over the view of the city. All the buildings were nicer, cleaner than the ones on his side of town and he could see over all of them. "Don't smudge the windows!" He heard Hammer whine behind him.

Tony turned and sat at the large table. He didn't recognize any of the food that was set before him. Probably foreign, Tony lived off of burgers and potato chips. Still, food was food.

"You do realize Hammer Industries has one of the most secure wireless networks on the planet?" Stane said as he threw his tie over his shoulder.

"If you say so." Tony chuckled. He poked at the gooey…. vegetables(?) in front of him.

"Well, it does. I designed most of it myself." Hammer huffed.

"And you got into it in under 5 minutes on a cell phone." Stane smiled at him. "No one's ever got in before, you understand."

"And you want to congratulate me with goop?" Tony took a nervous bite, not that bad. Hammer groaned.

"No, Tony. We think you can do more!" Stane said, his booming voice filling the room.

"Like juggling?" Tony smiled.

"No, we want you to hack SHIELD."


	2. Chapter 2

Another reason he was an idiot. Tony laughs at people who will probably kill him. Like when two highly successful, powerful men take you into the nicer part of the city to have lunch and ask to hack into the database of SHIELD. SHIELD. The most secret of secret government agencies that everyone knows about. Any smart person, that is.

Of course he wasn't going to do it. He would probably end up in some prison in the arctic no one knew about. Better to be murdered by a scary bald guy and Justin Hammer. Stane was beginning to look frustrated and Hammer just looked annoyed.

"We'll pay you $250,000." Hammer said. Tony stopped laughing. That was a lot of money, but to him $50 was a lot of money. With that he could pay to go to college and never see his parents again. Actually buy textbooks instead of stealing them from Barnes&Noble. On the other side, if he got caught he could spend the rest of his life in a federal prison, with the threat of torture, interrogation, and death. Would he do that for a quarter of a million dollars? Hell yes he would.

"What are you looking for? In the SHIELD database?" Tony asked. "If you're looking for their weekly lunch menu I could do that. Might have a problem if you want a list of top assassins or where the nukes are at."

"My dear boy, we just want you to clear our files. Everything they have on Mr. Stane, myself, and Hammer Industries should be permanently erased from the system. Whatever they have, gone." Hammer shoved a forkful of probably expensive whatever into his mouth. "It would probably be best if you didn't read much of it."

Great, his big break and it's with the bad guys. He was thoroughly screwed. These guys were probably doing some shady business that he didn't want to be a part of and it would be best to let SHIELD handle them. Maybe he could just hide the files away, instead of deleting them. Hide them on the Avenger's porn stash or something.

"Alright. I'll do it. But I'll need a laptop. And then I'm going home."

OOOOOO

Tony made it home on time, not late enough to warrant his father's attention and early enough to see his mom coherent. He kissed her on the cheek and went to his room. He pulled his new laptop and a bag of taco bell out from under his sweater and turned on the space heater. If it got any colder he would have to buy a coat. If this went well, he will definitely have enough money for one.

Tony turned on the light and sat on his bed, staring at his see of books. He rubbed at the bruises on his arm and looked at the laptop. The landlord gave the entire building a wifi signal, a shitty one but it worked well enough.

He munched on his burritos and started up the laptop, one designed by Hammer techs. He'd have to check the coding to fix it before hacking into the most advanced intelligence agency of in history. He fixed a few bugs, upped the security, and, oh look, they were monitoring him. He'd just get rid of that. After a few hours he had it perfect. He was… more confident he could get in successfully and not get arrested.

Now was as good as a time as any. It took him a few hours and then he was staring at SHIELDS most secure files. Tony didn't want to stay longer than necessary. First he had to find the Hammer files in the assortment of other top secret information. Tesseract, not what he wanted. Identities and location of the Avengers, oooh maybe later. Something about new hellicarriers. The Winter Soldier… sounded awesome but no time. List of scientist, boring. There it was, all the files regarding Hammer Industries.  
>Tony copied the file and deleted it entirely from the system. He then went onto the Avenger's personal servers, they would see it and most definitely report back. Tony got the money, whatever SHIELD wanted to do about Hammer would be done. Tony wasn't turning to the darkside.<p>

Now, where could he put it so they could find it again later? Dr. Banner had a treasure trove of research, what Tony wouldn't give for time to go through it all. The good Captain's was pretty empty. Thor's was empty too. Hawkeye, here we go. He watched Orange is the New Black every couple of nights on his computer. Tony replaced the Netflix app with the Hammer files and quickly backed out the SHIELD network. He made sure to erase any trace he was there at all.  
>With a sigh he closed the computer and fell back into his bed. Maybe he would run away to MIT.<p>

OOOOOO

Tony got his money. $250,000 dollars of beautiful green bills in a suitcase (rather clichéd for his taste) tucked between his bed and the wall. Now he just needed to figure out how to spend it. Maybe he could just run away to Costa Rica and live in a shack by the sea that was also a short distance from a burger joint and had excellent internet. Live on the bare necessities.

He was willing to admit he's not the best at planning ahead. But he had the money now, he could do whatever he wanted. He's not quite sure what that is at the moment but he would figure it out.

It was two weeks later that the genius was sitting at home, re-reading a book on robotic engineering. His dad was at work and his mom was in her room sleeping. He was planning on going to get burgers, maybe twenty of them with as much coffee as he could dream, when there was a light tapping at the door. Odd, the neighbors in the area weren't particularly friendly and visitors weren't all that common. He glanced through the peephole and standing in front of his door was a red haired woman. Slowly undoing all the locks except the chain he opened the door just enough to see her clearly.

"We're not interested." Tony said flatly. The woman was probably twenty something, messy red curls, and really pretty despite not wearing makeup and looked rather tired. Probably wasn't smart for her to be wandering around by herself.

"Sorry to bother you. I'm just asking if any apartments in this building are available. I really need a place to live." She honestly looked it, her clothes were several sizes too big and she had this cautious set to her jaw.

"You came to the third floor to ask about apartments?" Tony asked. He lived in the middle of the floor so even if she did come all the way up here she could have just stopped at the stairs.

"Asking everyone I can. Not a very polite bunch."

"Guy downstairs was kicked out for cooking meth, try there ma'am." Tony said as she leaned forward.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman. Do you like living here? Is it nice?" She smiled at him. Natalie leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms.

"The plumbing works. McDonalds down the street so I can't complain. Doesn't matter anyway." Natalie beamed a bit more. Glancing down the hall.

"Oh, are you moving? Maybe I could take your place. An old meth lab isn't ideal." Her eyes widened.

"No, my parents are staying. I'm moving out." She furrowed her brows then, they were perfectly plucked. Odd for someone who lived around here. She smiled brighter and tilted her head to the side.

"Where are you going? You seem a little young to be living by yourself." She did it. The one thing Tony couldn't stand was being called young. He already tested out of High School so it wasn't like he was an idiot who couldn't understand the 'adult world'. He was a genius after all.

"No, I'm going to college. Have my GED and everything. Bye." She backed up and Tony hastily closed the door.

OOOOOO

The next day Tony was home alone, a brilliant yet rare occurrence. He sat in his room and researched colleges and Costa Rica. Keeping his options open. His parents probably wouldn't let him go to college so he'd have to fake an identity. How does one even do that? Tony went to the kitchen for a glass of water when the door opened. He turned around to find several stern looking men in suits. Great.

"Breaking and Entering." Tony said loudly as they started looking through the apartment, opening the empty cupboards, flipping cushions, and confiscated his laptop. He went to protest when one man held up a large round badge. Extra great. "Unlawful search and seizure."

"Mr. Stark, I'm Agent Coulson and I can ensure you it is entirely lawful. You are a suspect in a recent breach of national security." A man said, arms crossed as he watched everyone else scan the apartment. Tony's heart did a leap when they left his room with the suitcase of money. This day was getting better and better.

"Sure it's me, Agent?" Tony took a small step towards the door. "My neighbor, Gretty, she's always going on with her plots to over throw the government." The suit then turned to look at him with a slight smile.

"Mrs. Donaldson is 95 years old and when one of our agents interviewed her and she kept talking about how interesting it was the nation elected 'that catholic Kennedy'. You, however, have an incredibly high level of intelligence, showed a recent interest in leaving town and…" Tony took another slow step towards the door as Coulson opened the suitcase handed to him and nodded. "…have come into a rather large sum of money recently."

"I'm really good a poker." Tony took one final step towards the door and was about to grab the handle to make his break when Coulson smiled at him.

"Do you think you can outrun ten highly trained men?" Tony thought about it, he knew he couldn't, but he was never one to give up on his dreams. He ripped open the door and took off down the hall. He managed to make it a total of three feet outside his door before he was tackled to the ground by Agent Coulson. Tony sighed, he was so close to freedom.

"Mr. Stark, you are under arrest." Best day ever. Goodbye quarter of a million dollars. _We could have been so great together_, Tony thought. Hello secret prison in the middle of nowhere.


	3. Chapter 3

"I demand a lawyer." Tony said as he fiddled with his handcuffs. He was in an interrogation room, just like the ones in all the movies. It was hardly lit, camera watching him in the corner, metal table and chairs. They left him in here alone, probably to sweat the information out of him. He was fucked. Probably going to get tortured.

Then the door opened as Agent Coulson and… the homeless redhead from a few weeks ago walked in. Interesting. She looked nicer, cleaned up and dressed in a leather bodysuit. She was probably where these guys found out Tony was going to take off. Idiot couldn't keep his mouth shut. It was to be expected.

"Well, you clean up nice. Did you find that apartment?" Tony put on his best "I'm not utterly terrified of being put in a scary government prison for the rest of my life" smile and leaned towards her as they sat down.

The redhead, Natalie but that was probably not her real name, smirked at him. It was one of those smirks that struck fear into the hearts of everyone, especially Tony. Coulson sat down across from him and began flipping through numerous papers. Papers probably about him, about all the terrible things he did and the even worse things they are going to do to him. Tony thought about hiding under the table, but decided against it. Wanted to face his punishment like an adult.

"So two weeks ago our technical analysts discovered a breach in security. They tracked the signal back to your apartment building, but couldn't get any information regarding identifying the hacker. We didn't know what they took until a few days later when the Avengers were having their bi-weekly television marathon that they noticed Netflix was replaced with our confidential files regarding Hammer Industries." Coulson leaned back. "Did I miss anything?"

"A lot of other people live in my building Agent. Might not have been me. Unless I'm under arrest please let me go before I'm late for my mama's fantastic dinner." Tony said. No one would care if he was gone all day, but his dad thought it was too disrespectful to be out too late at night.

"We did extensive background checks on everyone in the building and undercover agents interviewed anyone with an intelligence high enough to do this, that's just you. Not only did you express interest in leaving the area, but we found a large sum of money in your room. Care to explain?"

"I'm an excellent gambler." Tony nodded to the man. If there is one thing he learned growing up in his neighborhood it was to keep lying even if he was caught red handed.

"And I wanted to spend my hard earned money moving somewhere warm, like Hawaii. Oh, I haven't thought of Hawaii."

"Thought you were going to college?" Natalie, queen of lies and intimidation, said. She crossed her arms and leaned forward to glare at him. Tony was reconsidering cowering under the table.

"I was. I am. The um- The University of Honolulu. Fantastic school. The robotics team is really impressive." Tony smiled at her. He wasn't sure if there even was a University of Honolulu but he was going to bluff until the end of his days, which might be soon.

Natalie, or whoever she was, furrowed her eyebrows and turned her attention to Coulson. "Are you sure about this? He's not a very good liar and we haven't even threatened him yet."

"Well, you can be very intimidating, Romanov." Coulson smiled at her. Tony sighed internally. They were going to play buddies while threatening pain of death.

"So here is how is how it's going to work, Mr. Stark. Given the nature of your work, we gathered someone hired you to either steal or erase our files on Hammer. I think you're a good kid, didn't want to get in the way of us stopping a very bad man so you made sure we still had what we needed. However, given the nature of your circumstances you needed the money so you took the job any way. Do you understand?" Coulson said matter-of-factly. Tony nodded and looked at the table.

"So, was it Hammer who hired you?" Natalie, no it was Romanov now, said. Tony wanted to say yes, he really did. However, that would involve selling out one of the richest men in the world whose primary form of income was making weapons of mass destruction for the military. No thank you. Also, that Obadiah Stane didn't sit right with him. Tony had the feeling that if he mentioned Stane he would end up murdered in his sleep. So Tony just shook his head and looked away.

"It was definitely Hammer." She smiled. Tony put his head in his hands and groaned. What was the point of him even being here if they were just going to figure all this stuff out anyway?

"Mr. Stark, would you like to go to prison for the rest of your life? We have a nice one buried deep underground were you will never again see the light of day." Coulson said as he straightened his tie.

"No, Agent." Tony answered simply. The agent pulled a metallic bracelet from his pocket and quickly secured it around Tony's wrist, locking it in place. He then took off Tony's handcuffs. Tony yanked at it but it would neither open nor slip off.

"Then here is what will happen. That will monitor all of your activity on any electronic device. You try to hack into SHIELD again, we'll know instantly. You somehow manage to get it off, it'll send us a signal informing us and then you'll be in a maximum security prison for the rest of your natural life. I generally don't like threatening kids, but you did manage to gain access to information that could put our global security into jeopardy so don't test us." Once Coulson finished explaining the bracelet Tony had stopped trying to rip it off his arm. He nodded and pulled his sweater sleeve over it.

"Alright, Agent. So…. I'm _not_ going to prison?" Tony could almost laugh. In fact, he did. This was going better than he could ever dream. He was only being interrogated by scary government people, but not going to prison.

"Not today. However, our… involvement with Hammer Industries is official Avengers business. You'll be telling us everything you know about what the company is doing and also Fury thinks you could be useful into gaining an insight on the company." Romanov said, standing up.

"You want me to work with the Avengers?" Holy shit, this was incredible.

"They are going to babysit you while gain intel on Hammer. Under no circumstances are you to interfere with their other missions, you are to have no communication with Justin Hammer or his associates, and you will speak of this to no one. Understood?" Coulson spoke quickly and Tony just nodded along. This was better than he could have ever hoped for. "You should also apologize to Barton for tampering with his computer."

"Natasha Romanov, The Black Widow." She held out her hand and he quickly shook it. He was meeting an Avenger. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the team and then you can go home."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author Note - I posted 4 chapters today since it is already a completed story. Probably have frequent updates and I hope to get a lot of reviews! Update soon**

Coulson had left to go file paperwork so Tony was alone in the elevator with Natasha Romanov, the Black Fucking Widow. He knew it was impolite to stare but it was also impolite to lie about your identity to gain information on someone so he figured he would do it anyway.

"You're the Black Widow." Tony said in disbelief. "I'm meeting the Avengers."

"I noticed. Now, you'll be meeting with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless we're out on a mission. We'll discuss with you the details later on how you'll help us apprehend Hammer." Natasha said as the elevator doors opened.

The first thing to catch Tony's eye was the very large hole in the wall just across the room. The next was microwave that was smashed and left abandoned on the floor in the common room. Natasha just looked at it and sighed. They were just outside the kitchen and Tony stopped to enjoy the delicious smells coming from the room while Natasha leaned forward slightly to listen.

"-hacked into my computer. Now we're having a team bonding dinner! Bruce, streaming shows online is a sacred event that has been tainted. We shouldn't be making him curry, we should de-pants him and throw him in a lake in his underwear. _Then_ give him curry."

"If they hired anyone else they would have deleted the files entirely, but he made sure we still had them in a place he knew we would look. Be nice, Clint."

"No, Cap! There's a storm coming for this kid. Maybe I'll finally get to use that bucket of rubber spiders." There was a rather exaggerated evil laugh in the kitchen while Natasha shook her head. When Tony glanced up at her she grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him into the kitchen.

"Ladies, this is Tony." Natasha pushed him towards the island in the center of the kitchen as all its occupants began to stare at him. He recognized Thor immediately because what kid didn't know about the Martian who joined Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he was more muscular in person than on tv. Dr. Bruce Banner, the physicist Tony recognized from all the science journals he used to read at the library was standing over by the stove in a ridiculous apron that had an arrow pointing up that said, "I'm with a genius." Steve Rogers he recognized from the black and white photographs they looked at in his old history class, he sat at the kitchen island and read the paper and smiled at him. The last man he didn't recognize, he sat on the counter and glared at him. Since Tony could name everyone else he assumed this to be Hawkeye.

"You're younger than I thought you'd be." Hawkeye jumped off and was immediately in front of him, staring him down. "You started a war little man. Orange is the New Black is a one of the best shows I've ever seen and you replaced my Netflix app. I love that show and I love Netflix so you better hide everything you love because I will find where you live."

Tony looked away. The last thing he wanted was anyone of these guys to be in his apartment. The wallpaper was peeling off and the carpets were stained, but worst of all that would mean they would meet his parents and he would rather just pack up all of his beloved books and the little gadgets he made in his free time and bring them to this man.

"Clint, stop. You're scaring the boy." Steve Rogers walked over to him and smacked Clint on his back before holding out his hand. "Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you. I'm very glad you decided to join us in finding out what Hammer is up to. We promise to keep you safe."

"Yadda yadda truth, justice, and protecting the innocent." Clint the turned to return to his seat on the counter to reveal a note taped to his back that read, "Second-Class Archer". Steve snickered with a wink to Natasha as he gestured for tony to sit down. Clint looked back at them. "What? God, it's another not on my back isn't it? This one better not say 'Robin Hood' again Ste- I am greatly offended at this."

Clint crumpled up the note and threw it at a laughing Steve when Bruce started setting plates of curry at each place while everyone took their seats. Tony had never had curry before and he glanced up at the others who were eating it quickly. He was hungry, hadn't had anything to eat all day so he took a large bite.

"God, Dr. Banner this is delicious. Is there anything you do that isn't absolutely incredible!?" Tony took another bite as Bruce looked up at him and smiled.

"I can think of a few things. So tell us about yourself Tony. We should know the man who will help us uncover the truth behind Justin Hammer."

"Ah, well. I'm fifteen. I'm a Gemini. My favorite color is red. I got my GED last year so I'm done with school."

"A young scholar! No doubt you will be vital to our guest to defeating Hammer, but tell young one, what is a Gemini?" Thor said with a mouth full of food.

"It's a zodiac sign. People like to take the day they were born and see what the positions of the stars say about it." Natasha Leaned across the table towards him.

"What else? What's your family like?" Steve said as he grabbed for the bowl to get more rice.

"They're lovely." Tony said quickly. "So what do you guys think Hammer Industries? What do you need me for?" They glanced up at the change in conversation.

"You were able to get into SHIELDS most secure files. We were wondering if you could get yourself into Hammer's servers." Bruce said.

"Oh, I can do that. I've done it before." The group fell silent as Tony went back to eating his curry. Thor glanced at the others.

"Is this an impressive feat?" The god asked.

"According to our techies it is. It's a wonder you ever got caught, Stark." Natasha shook her head at him.

"Not a lot of time and I was a bit distracted by the thought of money and prison. The other time I got caught was because I used my phone. I guess that's how Hammer found me to get me to hack in here." Tony said as he finished his meal and put his plate away. He glanced at the clock. Shit. "I, uh, I have to head home now."

"I'll drive you back." Natasha stood and grabbed her keys.

OOOOOO

"See you Monday kid!" Natasha told him as he climbed out of the car.

Tony glared up at the sky as he walked towards his building. It was too dark. He kept going over in his head how he shouldn't have been so stupid as to get arrested. He prayed that since it was by SHIELD and he now had a super-secret SHIELD mission with the Avengers his parents wouldn't know. He stopped outside his door and waited. He stared at it as if he was waiting for it to disappear. In fact, he was. He didn't believe in magic, but now was its chance. He leaned in and rested his head on the door and breathed deeply before entering.

Tony held back his sigh of relief when he saw his dad passed out in his chair with the tv still on. His mom had long since gone into their room to go to sleep. Tony took a few cautious steps forward as he tiptoed around the empty bottles. They were haphazardly scattered around the area surrounding Howard's chair, which included the tv and his bedroom door. Tony made it to the television and turned it off, having it on all night would not do them any favors for their electric bill. Tony took an unfortunate step backwards that knocked over two bottles that had a domino effect on the rest and they clattered to the ground loudly.

"Shit." Tony whispered as he heard Howard stir in his chair and sit up. He turned and stood up straight as his father took several steps over to him.

"Bastard, you know what time it is?" Howard said to him as he grabbed onto Tony's shirt.

"No, sir."

"Tried calling you, but you're too good to answer the damn phone."

"Shit, no I-I went out today and forgot my phone." Tony shook his head at the lie and didn't notice the fist until it collided with his cheek with a force that would have sent him to the ground if not for the strong grip on his shirt.

"You don't talk back to me, boy." Tony reached up to touch his cheek but a firm hand ripped his arm away. "Where did you go?"

"Nowhere! I went to see Happy, he needed help with his math." Tony knew it made sense. Most of his friends were still in High School and he regularly tutored them to get out of the house. Howard let go of his shirt and instead grabbed onto Tony's jaw with a firm grip.

"You have no respect." He said with a punch to the teen's ribs. "You should learn it."

"I'll respect you when you earn it, asshole." Tony regretted it immediately. He knew his bigmouth would kill him eventually and feared that that day had come. He took a shaky breath as he saw his dad's eyes widen in shock and anger. Tony held back a yelp as Howard threw him to the ground and gave two harsh kicks to his stomach.

"Little boys should not try to talk so grown up." His dad said as he stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Tony sat up and leaned against the side of the couch. He tensed when his dad crouched down beside him and took a large gulp of the beer. "Tell daddy you're sorry."

"Sorry, sir." Tony said and took a sharp breath as the rest of his dad's beer was poured over his head. Howard laughed as he walked into his room and closed the door.

Tony sat there for several minutes trying to catch his breath. He quickly wiped away whatever beer tried to drip its way into his eyes and then stood to walk to the bathroom. The teen locked the door behind him and took off his sweater and shirt. He splashed water in his face and hair and wiped himself down with a wet towel before poking at the dark bruise appearing on his left cheek and the light finger mark around his jaw with a frown. Great, how was he going to cover these up?

With a sigh he went to his room and crawled into his bed still wearing his jeans. He laid on his back and stared up at his glow in the dark stars that he made sure to be as astronomically correct as possible when he put them up. After several minutes he closed his eyes and just spun the metal SHIELD bracelet around his wrist.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author Note - Yay, more chapters. This fic is already done so I'll just be putting up chapters very often. I hope you enjoy it. I'm working on the sequel for it now. Hope you like it, it's rather long.**

The weekend passed quickly. Too quick for Tony's liking and his bruises hadn't faded. When he got the text from Coulson at ten in the morning that he would be picked up in ten minutes he hurried to get ready. He threw on jeans and a hoodie and rushed out of his room and into the bathroom, knocking over one of his numerous stacks of books in the process. He dug through the medicine cabinet until he found what he was looking for, his mother's foundation. He knew they were a match, he'd worn her makeup enough times before. He slathered it on his face, enough to cover the bruises on his cheek and jaw. Tony forced himself to breath as he examined his work. It wasn't noticeable. They wouldn't see. The last thing he needed was the goddamn Avengers questioning bruises on his face. Tony would have rather gone to prison and never again see the light of day.

His phone dinged and he looked out the window to see a black SUV parked in front of the building. He was exactly on time. Eerie. Howard always left for work at the garage early so Tony had no problem getting out of the apartment without waking anyone, him mom slept like a log anyway. Tony ran down the stairs and climbed into the passenger side of the car with a big smile to Coulson.

"Come to drive me? So thoughtful." Tony said as he buckled up.

"It's extensive babysitting, Mr. Stark." Coulson said.

"But really, I have a bus pass. I can go anywhere in the city. Why do you want to drive me so bad?"

"Maybe SHIELD doesn't want a known criminal with high levels of intelligence traveling all over the city. Now, stop asking questions and eat your breakfast." Coulson handed the teen a donut and coffee.

"You bought me breakfast?" Tony stared at the small bag holding a glazed donut and the Starbucks cup. Tony had been buying all of his own meals for himself for the past two years besides the stuff Hammer tried to feed him and the curry Bruce made a few days ago. But this was just a simple donut and a cup of coffee and it felt special to him.

"Most important meal of the day." Coulson began to drive towards SHIELD HQ and Tony didn't know whether to say 'thank you' or not so he just ate his breakfast and stared out the window with a smile on his face.

OOOOOO

Tony walked out onto the Avenger's floor once they got to SHIELD HQ to find Bruce sitting alone in the living room reading so intently that he didn't notice him enter. No one else seemed to be around so he wandered down the hall. The bedrooms, he could tell by the names plastered on the doors. One door was crudely painted like the American flag and it looked as if someone had tried to wash it off. Tony wasn't one to go snooping through rooms so he went towards the other hallway.

As he passed the kitchen he saw a toolbox sitting on the counter. Tony rushed into the kitchen as quietly as possible so as to not attract Bruce's attention. He grabbed the toolbox and sat down at the island and pushed his sweater sleeve up. After a quick examination he realized he could only get inside it from the bottom side. He really wanted to open it up and see how it worked so he had to get it off somehow.

The bracelet was smooth and shiny. The only break in the surface was the groove in which the two ends were fastened together. He went through the kitchen drawers until he found a small knife. He sat back down and gently wedged it into the space. After Tony realized he wouldn't cut himself he slowly started to wiggle it in an attempt to break the bracelet open.

"Shit!" Tony shouted as an electric shock coursed through him and he yanked the knife from the bracelet and flung it upwards, which wasn't a very smart idea but he was a bit distracted to make logical decisions. "What the fuck? Who puts a shock bracelet on a teenager!? I'm suing!"

"Well, I don't believe you're supposed to be messing with it." Bruce walked into the kitchen and glancing at the toolbox and knife that had embedded itself into the ceiling.

"_Well_, Dr. Banner, I was just trying to fix your microwave." Tony said as he yanked down his sweater sleeve as Bruce lifted an eyebrow. He pulled his phone that was beeping in his pocket. "Oh, look. Our buddy Agent is also reminding me I'm not supposed to mess with it. I just wanted to see how it worked. I would have put it back on."

"Maybe you would have. You're a weird kid." Bruce sat down next to him and held out a chocolate bar he'd been eating. Tony reached out and broke off a piece. "You can call me Bruce. I don't really go by Dr. Banner these days."

"But you have a PhD in Nuclear Physics. That's incredible and you should totally flaunt it. I read your paper on the energy released in a gamma ray burst and how it can be measured. It was brilliant." Tony leaned forward and smiled. Bruce lifted an eyebrow.

"Thank you. You know, astrophysicists think there may be a way to harness that energy. A single millisecond of a GRB could potentially world's energy needs for the next hundred billion years."

"Nerd alert. I have no idea what you're saying." Clint said as he and Natasha walked into the kitchen to grab water bottles out of the fridge. He walked over and laid his hand on Tony's shoulder. "Sorry we missed you getting here. Nat and I were just sparring in the gym."

"That's three out of five." Tony said as he quickly shrugged off Clint's hand. "Where's the Buff Blonde Brigade?"

"Captain America and Thor were needed in New Jersey." Natasha said.

"Are you guys implying that I'm not buff? Rude." Clint sat down, looking confused at the knife in the ceiling.

"Not as buff as a super soldier and a god. Anyway, it's not time for Tony to tell us about everyone you met that worked with Hammer Industries. Tell us anything suspicious they said or did and you have to tell us if you found anything on their servers. Don't worry, we'll record it for Thor and Cap to listen to later." Natasha said as everyone else grew quiet to listen to him. Holy shit, this must have really been serious if they were going to just stop everything they were doing to listen to him talk.

"Well, I guess it started when I hacked Hammer's bank account and borrowed $150." Tony said. Great, now they would know he was a thief.

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"Money was tight. I didn't think he would notice." Tony shrugged.

"I'll talk to Coulson, have him set you up a with a weekly Consultant's fee. You'll be paid for helping us. Continue." Natasha as she wrote something down in her notebook. Well, alright then.

"He sorta did notice and said he'd pay me to hack SHIELD and delete all the files on Hammer Industries. But I figured if you guys were investigating them then it was for a good reason so I just moved them. Hammer thinks he's in the clear and I get the money." Tony grinned at them. It had been a decent plan.

"How did that work out for you, genius?" Clint chuckled, taking a gulp of his water before being elbowed by Natasha.

"Not how I pictured, but I seem to be doing fine. Okay, when I first met Hammer he kept talking down to me so I used my phone to hack into HI's secure files, but it was only for a moment."

"You used a phone?" Natasha sat back in her chair. She then leaned forward quickly, ready to write something down if needed be. "Did you see any suspicious files?"

"I only saw one. They were working on a project. Marsh or mace or something. I can't remember." Tony looked down but Natasha just nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. If it's not something you're opposed to, we would like you to get into their files again." Bruce said.

"Oh, yeah. I can do that. No problem." Tony said quickly, smiling slightly. "Then he, Mr. Hammer, invited me to lunch to offer me the job. It was really weird looking, but alright tasting. He had a man with him, Stane."

"We're familiar with Obadiah Stane." Natasha continued writing in her notebook.

"Okay, other than the fact that he was really scary and seemed to be lacking in hair, I don't know a lot about him. That's it." Tony shrugged and looked at the three Avengers in front of him.

"Thank you for the information." Natasha closed the book and smiled. "It's 1:30 now, so technically you're free to go, but it's Fajita Night if you want to stay."

"Nah. I promised my friend Rhodey I would help him with his physics homework. I was in Advanced Placement." Tony stood up with a wave and went to leave the kitchen. Suddenly he was grabbed up from behind and pulled up against someone's chest.

"Come on, Tony. You're part of the team now. Fajitas on Monday and on Fridays we watch Disney." Clint said as he pulled the teen to him. Tony's breathing quickened. Clint wasn't holding him too hard but his stomach and ribs were still sore from a few days ago and the pressure was uncomfortable. Though the worst feeling was that he couldn't move, he couldn't get away. Tony tried to tell himself that Clint wouldn't hurt him, but all he could think of was the numerous threats of payback the archer had given him and what if this was it.

"No, stop. Please, put me down! Put me down!" Tony yelled out and squirmed. Clint's hold on him immediately loosened and Tony felt his feet touch the ground and leaned against the wall. He looked up and saw that Clint had backed away several feet and was slightly frowning with a worried look in his eyes. Natasha brushed Tony's arm and Bruce came up with a glass of water.

"Are you alright?" Natasha furrowed her eyebrows as Tony gulped down the drink.

"Fine fine. I just wasn't expecting it." Tony took a deep breath and tried to calm his breathing. He smiled up at all three of them. "Really, I'm alright. But I really should be going, this guy is hopeless in the sciences."

Tony stood and quickly walked out. He didn't listen to the sounds of protest coming from Bruce. He tried to ignore the loud silence in the elevator. He stood in the rain for a second when he walked out of the building before pulling his hood up and walking to the bus stop. Tony drowned out his thoughts, knowing he messed everything up, by reading every ad plastered around while he waited for the bus.

OOOOOO

"Rhodey, for this problem you need to use one of the main equations for motion on constant acceleration." Tony leaned over his friend's bed to look closely at his paper.

"Vx = V0x + AxT? Right? You're the genius here, Tony." Rhodey looked up from his paper and smirked at his friend.

"Yes, that's right. And that's the correct equation also." Tony stuck his tongue out as Rhodey rushed to plug in numbers to the equation and get his answer.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to your face?" Rhodey asked when he finished.

"What? You saying I'm ugly?" Tony said.

"No, it's a bit bruised up." Rhodey frowned as Tony went to go look at the mirror. The rain had washed off some of the makeup and pale purple marks dotted his cheek and jawline. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Oh, it's nothing. You know how the neighborhood is. You look at someone wrong and then they get aggressive." Tony shrugged it off.

"Maybe you should tell someone." Rhodey laid his hand on his friend's shoulder. Tony resisted the urge to flinch away, he had already freaked out on too many people today just for touching him.

"You're getting worked up over nothing. Just a few jerks, I can handle it." Tony looked Rhodey in the eye until he was satisfied and pulled out his art homework.

"Alright. Know anything about 'The Realism Art movement'?"

"You're on your own with that. See you later." Tony left Rhodey's house and began the twenty block walk back to his place.

It was still early, his dad would still be at work by the time he got home so it would be a quiet night for him unless Howard had a bad day. Tony hoped for a quiet night. He didn't need more bruises and more questions. He just wanted everything to go back to normal. Last month he only got the occasional passing glance and gave the seldom street fight story to his friends, now he would have to explain everything to the guys at SHIELD. God, he saw them three times a week. What would he do?

Tony was pulled away from his thoughts when a black Mercedes pulled up next to him. Tony stopped walked but didn't approach the vehicle. He knew better than that. A moment later its backseat window rolled down.

"Tony, how wonderful it is to see you again!" A voice from the window called. Tony had a flicker of familiarity with the voice, but he couldn't place it until he took a step forward and saw the face.

"Oh, hello again, Mr. Stane." Tony's stomach dropped.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony just stood on the sidewalk, debating whether or not to run. Tony knew he should have run, he knew every back alley from here to his building, but then he remembered that they had been to his apartment. They talked to his parents. So when Obadiah Stane waved him over to the car he walked over. When Stane opened the car door and beckoned him in Tony took one desperate look around the street and hoped someone would see him so there would be at least one witness in case he came up missing. There was no one else outside, it was raining.

"Tony, good to see you. How is our little genius?" Stane looked Tony up and down as he sat down next to him. The car had a distinct leather smell that drove the teen crazy. Tony's panic slightly rose when the car started to move.

"Where are we going, Mr. Stane?" Tony looked out the window and ignored the older man's question.

"Oh, the weather is bad so I thought I would give you a ride." Obadiah smiled.

"What were you even doing on this side of town? Enjoying the scenery?" There it was, Tony's big mouth. It seemed to make its appearance just when he needed to be quiet. He cringed internally when he felt his voice drip with sarcasm. "We just drove past about 3 meth labs and 2 probable gang members fighting so it's a great place for a big time business man like yourself to go out and find serenity."

"I don't like your tone, boy." Stane's eyes hardened and his smile dropped. "If you must know, I'm in the area checking up on some… business interests of mine. Although, I'm rather disappointed to see you still on this side of the city."

"It is where I live."

"We certainly paid you enough to_ move_." Stane paused then and stared at Tony with hard eyes, examining him. "I heard rumors Tony. I usually have people, trusted people, keep an eye out for potential assets and a few have reported back to me that you've been arrested by our wonderful associates at SHIELD. Now I'm confused because if you were arrested then what are you doing out walking around free as a bird, Tony?"

"They… couldn't find any proof. I'm really good at covering my tracks. So since they couldn't prove it and I'm underage so the just they let me go." Tony looked Stane in the eyes as the man glared at him. He felt the intense need to run away and hide but suppressed it. There was nowhere to run to. Tony checked the car they were in. It was dark, lit by only a few lights in the ceiling and the interior was all black and dark grey leathers. The driver in front were paying them no attention.

"What did you do with the money, Tony? Having all that money laying around would have been rather suspicious." Stane refused to look away.

"Well, I burned it. So they wouldn't find it." He felt the sweat dripping down his back. "I was sorta in a rush."

"You didn't tell them anything, did you Tony?" Stane threw an arm around the boy and pulled him close. "You didn't betray our trust, did you boy?"

"No, sir!" Tony shook his head.

"You seem nervous."

"I'm not nervous. I'm just cold from the rain." Tony glanced back up at the man, he had a deep frown and a harsh look in his eyes.

"Well, I guess we'll have to find a use for you so you can get your money back." The car pulled to a stop in front of his building. Tony sighed in relief and reached for the handle when the hand on his shoulder tightened. "We keep a close eye on things that are ours, boy. I'll be in touch."

Tony ran into the building and up the stairs into his apartment. He still had a half an hour before his dad got home so he knew he would be fine just running in. He slammed the door behind him and leaned against the door. Tony put his head in his hands, he was sure he was overreacting. Stane hadn't even actually threatened him. He probably just wanted to give him more weird food and give him another job or something. Tony's head snapped up when a soft hand brushed against his arm.

"Mom, hi." Tony smiled at the woman as she began brushing at his hair.

"My beautiful boy. Shouldn't be sad." She shook her head as she brushed her fingers threw her son's hair. She turned and walked back to the couch and sat down.

Tony walked over and sat next to his mother who smiled at him and leaned into him. She buried her face into his shoulder and muttered something about him being 'soaked'.

"I wish you would stop mama." Tony whispered to her and pulled the blanket that hung over the back of the couch over her. He smiled sadly at his mother. "I can find you help."

"Stop? Oh. I'm fine. Leave me alone." She pushed Tony away then and laid down on the couch. Tony went and filled up a glass of water to leave on the coffee table in case she woke up thirsty and then quickly locked himself away in his room.

OOOOOO

On Wednesday, Tony got up earlier to cover his bruises as best as he could so they weren't noticeable at all. He put on his nicest clothes and combed his hair back. He wanted to seem as put together as possible since his freak out on them on Monday. When he got the text that Coulson had arrived he went downstairs and got in the car.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark." Coulson said to him, passing him a McMuffin and coffee.

"You know, Agent, if you keep buying me breakfast I may have to marry you." Tony took off the wrapper and took a bite. He smiled at the familiar taste of McDonalds. "Greasy fast-food, the essence of my life force."

"You should eat better." Coulson started the car and pulled away. He gave the teen a quick glance. "So how have you been feeling lately?"

"What? I'm fine." Tony said as he took a large gulp of coffee. It was too hot, he would have to tell Coulson that now that it was warming up he should buy him a Frappuccino instead. It had stayed surprisingly chilly until early mid-June, but the heat was coming now.

"Our agent's safety is a top concern. If you're having any problems you should inform me and action will be taken." Coulson's concern snapped Tony out of his thoughts about the weather.

"I'm not an agent. I'm a kid on a watch list." Tony crinkled up the wrapper from his sandwich and threw it in the back.

"Think whatever you like, Mr. Stark, but you are important to this mission." The Agent sighed as he pulled up in front of the base. "Also, they're having a bit of a free day up there today. Captain Rogers wanted to meet with you. He should be in the gym on their floor."

He drove away once Tony got out. He took the elevator right up to their floor where Natasha, Clint, and Thor were watching Game of Thrones. He watches the show every Sunday with Rhodey and Happy so he immediately recognized the sounds of gore accompanied by the cries from the viewers. They paused it when they saw him enter. Clint frowned at him, looking him over with worried eyes. Thor jumped up to greet him.

"Hello, again, our young scholar. Our friend Bruce has told me about your interests of science. I honestly should have known. My lady, Jane, is also knowledgeable. Perhaps the three of you could discuss the stars or your computers." Thor smiled and grasped his shoulder.

"Sounds great. I'm always up for a science talk." Tony smiled and glanced back at Clint and Natasha who were whispering on the couch. "Anyway, Cap wanted to meet me in the gym."

"I'll show you." Natasha jumped up off the couch and guided him down the hall, to the left and then there were a set of red double doors. "He'll go easy on you." She said as she leaned in closer.

The gym was impressive, in the center were two sparring mats that were surrounded by a small track. On the outer edges of the room were the equipment for weight lifting, cardio, or any other workout the heroes on the floor needed to keep in shape. He saw Steve just to the right of the door with a few punching bags.

"Hey, Cap. What do you need me for?" Tony ran up to him, smiling.

"I thought that since I missed your last visit we could….. hang out together. Throw some punches. At the bag, not each other." Steve came over and grabbed Tony's hands to wrap them.

"I know how to punch." Tony said.

"I assumed. But I thought it would give us time to talk. I'm the team leader and you're a new member of this team that I don't know very well." Steve finished his hands and went to hold the bag. "Don't curl your fingers around your thumb, it's a common mistake."

"I'm not a part of the team." Tony said as he made a fist and lightly punched the bag in annoyance. "I don't even know how long I'm supposed to show up here three times a week."

"You're here and you're helping us with a very important mission so don't you ever say you're not part of the team. And Coulson's official report says that you will be reporting to us until you are no longer deemed a security threat. I have to file the paperwork myself so, technically we can keep you as long as you like. Don't punch with the flats of your fingers, punch with your knuckles." Steve smiled at him.

"Why am I here? So you can ensure me of my spot on the team and teach me to punch properly?" Tony hit the bag a bit harder. Waiting for the catch. Steve's smile dropped a bit before he continued.

"Hawkeye is worried. He mentioned an incident on Monday where he picked you up and you panicked. He's been feeling a bit guilty. We just want to know if everything is alright with you."

"You too? I'm really fine. I just don't like being grabbed from behind, especially if I'm not expecting it." Tony punched the bag as hard as he could, it didn't move as Steve held still. Why was his whole life going to shit now? He was fine, he didn't want people bugging him about anything.

"Alright, but just know you can tell me anything." Steve shifted and smiled again.

"Can I tell you I want my bracelet off? I tried reading an article at the library on nuclear fusion and SHIELD locked the whole computer to everyone. I was kicked out." Tony frowned as Steve started laughing. "I don't think it's that funny, Spangles."

"It really is. No, I don't think I can get the bracelet off of you. Any more questions?"

"Yeah." Tony stopped punching the bag and started unwrapping his hands. "What should I do if someone from Hammer Industries ever tries to contact me again?" Steve's head shot up.

"Well, we would probably move you and your family to a secure location where we could monitor you closer and protect you guys from harm. However, that is a bit extreme and since there hasn't been an actually threat yet we haven't done it. We can't disclose with you too much information on them, but their incredibly dangerous people. Why? Have you seen or heard from anyone?" Steve walked up to him and put a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.

"No, I was just wondering what would happen. I'm very invested in my safety, you see." Tony lied. He would rather risk seeing Stane again than have the Avengers monitor his family and see something he didn't want them to see. "Come on, let's get lunch."

When they left the gym Bruce was in the kitchen cooking and the other team members were already seated. Steve nodded to Clint who jumped up when they entered and greeted them.

"Hey guys, how was working out on the free day?" He said as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Fine, Tony's punches are a lot better now." Steve said as he went to the island to sit down.

"I punched fine before!" Tony shook his head and looked up at Clint. "What do you want to say Hawkeye?"

"Tony, I just wanted to apologize for Monday. I didn't mean to startle you and I would never hurt you." Clint frowned.

"It's fine. I know you wouldn't. You're not gonna cry on me, are you Clint?" Tony joked and gave the archer a light push.

"I just want to make sure you're alright. I told Steve and Coulson to ask you, he's good with talking to people." Clint leaned forward to look at Tony closer.

"And I told him _and_ Agent I was fine. Don't worry." Tony said looking at where all the others were sitting. Finally, Bruce started placing bowls down and called out to them.

"Okay, hug it out you two. I made black bean soup!" Bruce took off his apron and sat down. Clint smirked and opened his arms wide. Tony rolled his eyes, but leaned in to give him a small hug. Tony didn't notice Clint reach in his pocket to grab his phone. He would notice until later that night when his ringtone had changed to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" and he couldn't change it back to AC/DC.


	7. Chapter 7

"Thanks for the help, man. I don't see why teachers need to assign homework every day." Rhodey finished writing and put the folder away. "We still have a few hours before you have to go, want to watch a movie?"

"I think I'm in trouble, Rhodes." Tony muttered. Rhodey sat up immediately and moved to sit closer to his friend.

"Are you alright? Is it your family?" Rhodey gave a small reassuring smile when Tony looked up at him.

"No, my family is fine. It's just there's these…. Bad kind of guys I've been seeing around and they just give me a bad feeling." Tony smiled back at Rhodey. "I've been hanging out with these other guys lately. Really nice guys that they don't like so I'm just a bit worried."

"Tony, did you join a gang?" Rhodey's voice grew darker and more serious.

"No, I didn't join a gang! God, Rhodey." Tony laughed. "They're good people. You'd like them. It's just if these guys I'm not so sure about find out I'm spending time with them then I'm worried about what will happen."

"Well, Tones, you say your friends are good people and I always trust your judgment. You seem to like them. I know how you look when you like something." Rhodey pointed at Tony when he opened his mouth to protest. "Don't ever do anything because you're afraid, especially if it means stopping something that makes you happy. Tell them about these other guys. Tell your parents. If they're harassing you, tell the police."

"Thanks, Rhodey." Tony smiled and Rhodey just shoved his shoulder playfully.

"Tell me about your new friends. Any cuties?"

"They're really good people, but _so_ nosey! They're really nice too. But one of them has declared a prank war on me and somehow, I don't even know when, he got a hold of my phone and changed my ringtone to the worst song imaginable. I can't even change it." Tony groaned loudly when Rhodey laughed. "As for the cutie question, I don't think any of them would be compatible with you. And you said you trusted my judgment."

"Fine, I'll find my own girl." Rhodey said, elbowing his friend. "Pick a damn movie."

OOOOOO

"Ugh!" Tony groaned and threw his phone when his phone went off to inform him that Agent Coulson would arrive soon to drive him to base for his babysitting. His ringtone would have to change. He would get Clint back, but this time it had to be bigger than deleting his Netflix. Tony got ready and walked downstairs. Once again he was greeted with breakfast and a smile.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark."

"Agent, have I ever told you that you're my favorite person?" Tony smiled and almost did a cheer when he pulled out his breakfast burrito. "And you don't have to keep calling me 'Mr. Stark'. You drive me to your magic SHIELD HQ every other day and buy me breakfast. You can call me 'Little Shit' for all I care."

"I certainly won't be calling you that. I'll stop calling you Mr. Stark if you stop calling me Agent and then we can get right to using names, shall we? Since I'm your favorite person you could at least call me Coulson." He glanced over at the boy chugging his coffee and chuckled.

"Fine,_ Coulson_, but it better be a cold day in hell if you call me Mr. Stark again." Tony pointed at the smiling agent and made his best fake serious face.

"Alright Tony." They pulled up in front of the building and frowned up at the rain clouds. "We're going to have you access Hammer Industries files today. You are completely free to object."

Tony knew he would do it. Besides the general fun it must be to snoop through Justin Hammer's files he had a chance to help the Avengers arrest him and Stane. If they went to prison Tony wouldn't have to worry about certain death at the hands of well-dressed businessmen. Tony just wanted his life to go back to normal. He would love to still come back here to base and spend time with everyone, but if they decided they were done than he would be okay.

"No, I can totally do that. Just hook me up with a computer and I'll do the thing." Tony nodded and smiled. He left the car and went straight up to the Avenger's floor. Once he saw Clint sitting on top of the bookshelf trying to solve a rubix cube he stopped and glared at him. They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes until Thor came out and greeted him loudly.

"Young scholar Tony! I see you and Clint are bonding in good natured looking at each other?" Thor laughed clasped Tony's shoulder.

"Nice to see you too, big guy. I want Tweety Bird here to fix my phone." Tony pointed accusingly at the blond man sitting several feet above him.

"No." Clint said. Tony huffed and walked into the kitchen where everyone else was finishing their breakfast. He sat down next to Bruce and started making faces with Natasha.

"So Tony, did Coulson tell you what we were planning on doing today?" Steve asked, chuckling at the face Nat was making.

"Yeah, you want me to hack Hammer Industries. I'll totally do it. Someone just has to make me cupcakes." Tony smiled as Bruce stood up and went through the cabinets. "Joking."

"I'm not, make me cupcakes." Natasha said. She walked over to the counter to grab her laptop and handed it to Tony. "It's got some of the best security in the world so just do what you do."

Tony opened it up and went to work. He laughed a bit when he saw that Hammer updated his security because of him. He glanced up occasionally to look at Natasha and Steve staring at him. Bruce stood at the counter blending cupcake batter and humming to himself. He went back to his work and once he got in quickly made it look like no one was there at all or even made their way through.

"Alright, we're in." Tony smiled. Natasha came forward and messed up his hair.

"Thank you, Tony. I'll take it now." She picked up the laptop and walked away. He looked at her confused and she smiled at him. "I only needed a way in. I can handle it from here."

"I don't even get to peek?" Tony stuck out his lower lip and crept towards the laptop, he was really looking forward to reading all the dirty little secrets.

"Nope. Top secret." Natasha bit her lip and made shooing motions with her hands.

"Come on into the living room. It's Friday and on Friday's we watch Disney. Or Pixar because let's face it, we just love animated movies." Bruce said as he put the tin of cupcakes into the oven and set the timer. "We'll let you pick first."

Tony walked out into the living room where Clint and Thor were sitting and arguing about who should sit on the Iron Throne. He interrupted them by yelling out, "Mulan!" and the sitting on the edge of the couch and a laughing Bruce put in the DVD.

"You'll love it, Thor. It's about a woman who dresses as a man to join the army because they didn't think women would make good soldiers and then she saves her whole country." Clint said.

"Ah, in Asgard I have a friend, Lady Sif. Everyone said women would not make a fine warrior but she has proved them wrong a tenfold. Perhaps she would enjoy the film." Thor shifted to sit closer to Tony as he spoke.

"I don't see why not. Everyone loves this movie." When the title screen appeared Tony smiled. "Little warning for you guys. I will sing."

"Us too." Bruce said as he motioned between him and Clint as they both laughed.

They watched the movie. Sang every song with Thor laughing at them. At some point Steve came out with a plate full of chocolate cupcakes and went back to the kitchen. Thor gasped loudly when the scene showed the burnt village. Finally the movie was ending and Mulan's dad was telling Mulan that "the greatest gift and honor was having her as a daughter."

"Hawkeye, are you crying?" Bruce asked.

"No!" Clint stood and went to the DVD collection. "He got to pick now it's my turn. We're watching Brave!"

"You do that, but I'm going home." Tony stood and stretched. He yelled into the kitchen. "That's if you guys are done with me."

"You're free." Natasha yelled back.

"You won't stay? Your movies of Midgard are quite good." Thor said.

"Nah, I'm running late." Tony muttered looking at the clock.

"Want me to walk you back?" Clint closed the DVD case and looked back at him. "It shouldn't be that far. Then we could meet your folks."

"No no! I'm fine. They're busy people. You guys just watch your movies and I'll make it back just fine." Tony waved at them and ignored Clint's face falling and Bruce's look of confusion and focused on Thor's happy wave that was returned to him.

Tony sighed once he made it into the elevator. He walked slowly on his way home. Although it was cloudy he was thankful it didn't rain. He nodded at the guys standing in front of his building, they were nice for drug dealers. He walked up the stairs and didn't even hesitate going into his apartment. No point in delaying the inevitable. He sighed once more at the sight of his dad drinking the bottle of whiskey. It was Friday, Howard always drank the hard stuff on the weekends.


	8. Chapter 8

"Tony, where've you been all day?" Howard looked up from his bottle and furrowed his eyebrows. Tony shrugged and walked quickly towards his room. He planned on shutting himself away and not coming out until Monday when he'd have breakfast with Coulson again and spend the day in peace. He was almost to the door when he was pulled back by his shirt.

"No, don't run off. I asked you where you've been." His dad took another swig from his bottle and looked down at him. "Some guys came by looking for you and I don't know where you go."

"I don't really go anywhere. Where ever the music takes me. Usually it's away from here." Tony said as he pushed his dad's hand off of his shirt. He went for his door again. A hand gripped his arm and yanked him back with great force. Tony turned on instinct and curled his fist, thumb on the outside, and swung it, knuckles connecting with Howard's cheekbone. It was just as Steve had taught him to punch. Tony's body immediately slackened. He had hit his father, he had never actually hit anyone before. He struggled to take in a breath and tried desperately to calm his shaking hands. The grip around his arm tightened that Tony had to hold back a yelp.

"Did you just hit me, boy?" Tony opened his mouth to answer with anything he could think of when a fist hit him hard in the face. Tony closed his eyes at the pain and felt the warm liquid start to drip from his nose. He put a hand out to stop his dad from hitting any more. He opened his eyes when his hand was yanked away. "What made you think it was okay to hit me?"

"I- I just want to go to my room. I want to be left alone." Tony his head and tried to pull away.

"You want to be left alone? I want a son who isn't a disrespectful little piece of shit." Howard let go of his arm and took another swing at his face. Tony fell to the ground and pushed himself up onto his elbows. He didn't bother standing up, he just prayed his dad would be satisfied and leave him be. He wasn't. Tony yelled out when he felt Howard's boot meet his side. He kicked him several times before bending down to grab him by the shoulder and flip him onto his back.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, dad." Tony cried out. He would have kept apologizing had he not felt the hand grip his throat and squeeze. He stared up at the angry glare from his father above him and gripped the hands at his neck trying to pull them off, but they were rock solid. He started kicking frantically trying to get the man away from him but it was no use. Dark orbs started buzzing around the corners of his vision and he let a few tears fall out the corners of his eyes. He couldn't breathe! He opened his mouth and tried to inhale but couldn't. He clawed at his father's hands as they lifted him into the air by his neck and threw him back down again, banging his head on the ground.

And suddenly the hands were gone, Howard had left him finally. He drew in a deep breath and sobbed. He curled up right there on the floor in the living room and breathed, savoring every breath. He wiped away the blood that had flowed down his face to his mouth so that he would taste nothing but sweet air. He softly stroked the sore skin around his neck and fell asleep right on the floor. He woke up in the middle of the night and washed away blood on his face and examined the darkening spots on his face and arms. He frowned slightly at the finger marks circling his neck. He took off his bloody sweater dropped it into the hamper. He retreated to his room and locked himself away, only coming out for the occasional glass of water, for the weekend.

OOOOOO

Tony was awoken on Monday by the annoying sound of Rick Astley as his phone went off. He ignored it and rolled back over. It went off again half an hour later to inform him that Coulson was downstairs. He ignored it too. Coulson texted him again ten minutes later asking if he was sick. He ignored it. He also ignored the knock at his door moments later, but sat up to listen to see if anyone was breaking in. No one entered.

He laid back down and ghosted his fingers over his neck. He cringed a bit at the slight pain that came from the now deep purple finger marks left there. He pushed slightly against the bruise just to the left of his nose, trying to redirect the pain and not think about the hands that nearly squeezed the life out of him. He grabbed his phone and walked to the kitchen. He reached into the cupboard where his dad kept his liquors for the weekends and sat down on the floor, pushing himself into the corner where the two counters met. He didn't bother reading the label, he just opened it and took a sip. He grimaced at the taste and the way it burned down his throat, but it warmed his stomach. He took another drink hoping it would heat him entirely because he detested the way it felt like his blood was running cold in him.

He looked down at his phone when it went off again. It was Steve. Honestly, how were these people getting his number? He read the text, they were wondering where he was and if he was okay. He ignored it. Tony gulped down his dad's alcohol until he felt warm and he couldn't focus his vision. Tony hadn't drunk that much so he took a few more drinks before stumbling back to the cabinet to put the bottle away. His dad wouldn't notice any was missing until the weekend anyway. He stopped to throw up in the sink before returning to his little spot on the kitchen floor. His head spun so he laid down right there on the cool tiles. He hadn't eaten all weekend and they always say you shouldn't drink on an empty stomach.

He thought for a while about running away. He imagined building something that he could hop into and fly far far away and never see anyone ever again. He smiled at the thoughts until his phone started playing that annoying song again. This time it was Bruce, he was calling him. Tony was sick of all the texts and phone calls and that _awful_ ringtone. He stood up, gripping the side of the counter for support, and threw his phone as hard as he could. He laughed when he heard it shatter and the song stopped.

He sat back down and stroked neck gently. He hadn't noticed how much time had passed until Howard walked through the door and grunted at him as he went to the fridge. He pulled out a beer and went to sit in front of the tv.

"Maria in our room?" He asked turning on his sit-com. Tony called back a 'Yes.' and continued to sit on the floor. He decided to just wait here on the floor until his dad fell asleep so he wouldn't be noticed. Then he would go back to his room and stay in there for a few more days. Tony frowned at the knock at the door. Hell of a time for people to come over, he was wallowing.

"Tony, get the damn door!" His dad called to him from the living room. He complained silently as he stood and took a moment to find his balance. He stumbled over to the door and opened it.

"We're busy so just lea- damn." Tony sighed as he looked up at Clint Barton. He was standing outside the door with his mouth hanging open, eyes wandering over Tony's face and down his arms. He reached out and grabbed the younger boy by the shirt and dragged him out into the hallway. Tony tensed and gripped Clint's hand. He let go and looked at him closer.

"Sorry for grabbing you. Wait right here." Clint leaned him gently on wall and walked into his apartment, closing the door behind him. Tony slid down the wall as he listened to the sounds of yelling and the loud noises of things banging around coming from behind the door. He put his head in his hands as the screaming grew louder and something heavy hit the wall. Then it was quiet. He sat there for several long minutes until the door opened again and Clint came back out carrying a heavy duffle bag.

"So, um. You're moving out. Come on, I packed your clothes, some books because you seem to like them, some mechanical things you had laying around." Clint stood across from Tony who lifted his head lightly to look at him. The archer frowned as his eyes wondered over the dark bruises and the fading yellow ones on the boys face, the spots of blood that dotted the hem of his shirt, the old and new handprints that littered his arms, and deep purple finger marks that lined his neck that Tony kept brushing his thumb across. His heart broke when the young teen whined and shook his head.

"No. I have to stay." Tony looked away and started picking at the peeling paint in the hallway. He didn't want to look at Clint. He knew he would be looked at differently now, he didn't want different. Clint sighed and sat on the floor across from him.

"Tony, you're not safe here. You should come back with me." Clint sighed. He wished Steve was here. He was better at talking about serious things. Clint just knew he wasn't leaving without Tony.

"I'm not safe anywhere. What are you even doing here!?" Tony's looked up quickly, seeming angry. His head spun a bit from moving too quickly. "You can't just show up to spy on me!"

"You're supposed to report to the Avengers on a scheduled three days a week. You didn't show up and weren't answering your phone. I was sent to check on you. Good thing too."

"I broke my phone. It kept going off and playing that stupid song." Tony put his head back down and closed his eyes.

"Are you drunk?" Clint frowned deeply. "You shouldn't be drinking."

"I only had a little bit while he was away." Tony smiled up at him. His smile dropped and he furrowed his eyebrows. "Where is he?"

"Oh, we had an….. altercation and he'll be asleep for a few hours." Clint looked away and smiled. He shook his head and stared back at the boy. "Look, you can't stay here. I've been noticing how scared you are coming back here. I'm not letting you stay."

"I have to stay. They're my family." Tony stared straight back at Clint, who stood to move across the hallway to sit next to him. He made sure to sit just far enough away to make sure he wouldn't accidentally touch the teen.

"You know, I was raised by a circus. They were my first family. A lot of them were really nice, they made sure I ate and taught me how to shoot a bow. But most of them were terrible, mean and scary and just… cruel." Clint said, leaning a little closer to Tony, who looked away. "I left. I joined SHIELD. I found a new family. I take care of them and they take care of me. I don't worry about them hurting me, I'm not scared."

"Sometimes the family you start out with isn't a good one. So you have to go find your own one, a better one." Clint continued and smiled when Tony glanced up at him. "We could be your family. Come home with me."

Tony nodded slowly and Clint jumped up and grabbed the duffle bag. He held his hand out to help the boy up and they walked out of the building. They walked in silence for a long time. Clint put his hand out occasionally to steady the boy stumbling along in front of him. When they came to the SHIELD building Tony stopped.

"I don't want them to see me." He whispered.

"They're probably eating fajitas in the living room and watching one of our shows. I know a back exit." Clint looked sadly at him. Tony nodded tiredly. They went around to the back of the building and up door there. Clint swiped his card there and pulled it open for Tony. They walked through an empty hallway full heavy looking bags and stacks of pipes laying around until they came to an elevator.

"Maintenance entrance." Clint said when he pushed the button for their floor. They walked out into a hallway full of laundry bags piled against the walls. "None of the others take this way. They take the main entrance."

They walked through the door and out into the Avenger's floor. Tony could hear the tv in the distance and gripped his shirt nervously. Clint led him down the hall quietly and stopped at one of the doors. He unlocked it and closed the door once they were both inside.

"This is my room. Sorry about the mess." Clint put the duffle bag down on the large bed and started to stack the pizza boxes to put them in the corner. He swept his clothes aside with his foot and pointed at his mini-fridge. "Left over pizza. Just got it this morning."

Tony looked around the room. It was larger than his and painted purple. He chuckled at the target pained on one wall with numerous arrows sticking out of it. The bathroom was just through another door. He walked over to the fridge and got the pizza, he hadn't eaten in three days and pizza was best cold. Clint had walked over to his desk and pulled a key out of a drawer.

"Here's the spare key. The only people who can get into this room are you and me. You don't have to go out and deal with everyone until you're ready." Tony took the key and nodded. "I'm going to tell them."

"Oh. I guess that's fine." Tony said as Clint started heading for the door.

"You can stay in this room until we set you up with one of your own. I'll check on you in a bit." Clint smiled as Tony moved his duffle bag onto the floor and started looking through it. "Goodnight, Tony."

"Goodnight." He said back.

Clint stood outside the door for several moments. He could feel his anger begin to bubble up again. _I let this happen_, He thought._ I didn't see it_. He turned to the living room and walked towards his teammates. He entered the room and grabbed the vase to his left and threw it against the wall. It was silent then. Everyone had stopped to look at him. Nat, seeing how angry he was jumped up and came towards him. Bruce and Steve stood in front of their seats. Thor looked on worried.

"Clint, what happened?" Natasha said, grabbing his hands. Clint looked back at Bruce, who had sent him to go check on Tony since he wasn't answering his phone.

"I think we need to talk about Tony." Clint said as he went for the couch.

"Is he alright?" Bruce asked, clenching his fist.

"No." Clint shook his head. "He isn't."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author Note - I have no self-control so I have a finished story that I start posting on here and I think 'here, have 8 chapters a day'. I'll try to slow down.**

"Clint, we're gonna need you to calm down." Steve put his hand on the man's trembling shoulder. Clint had been sitting on the couch for several quiet minutes just rubbing his face and hair angrily. "Tell us what happened. What's wrong with Tony?"

"I just went to his house to check on him. See if he was sick or something, like Bruce asked me to do. Deep breaths, Brucie. Don't worry, he's safe now." Clint looked up quickly to look at his teammates all standing around him. Bruce looked terrified for a moment before nodding and sat down in the chair across from him.

"I just went to see if he was okay, see why he didn't come in. God, you should have seen him when he opened the door. He looked terrible. He was covered in bruises, you could see the impressions on his arms where someone had grabbed him too hard, some of them were weeks old. His face was just so busted up and swollen in some places. And there were these…" Clint trailed off but made a motion around his neck. He looked back to his teammates, gauging their reactions. They were silent except for Bruce's loud and quick breathing from his chair, but he was keeping it together, clenching his fists and nodding to Clint firmly. Steve's whole body was rigid and he looked at the exit with a cold expressions. Thor had obtained Mjolnir from its spot by the couch. Natasha started twiddling her thumbs, Clint knew she only did this when she was resisting the urge to go out and kill someone, but other than that she looked entirely calm.

"He looked so disappointed when he opened the door. Like he was upset that I saw him. I know what abused kids look like. I shouldn't have grabbed him, I felt him tense up like he expected me to hit him, but I had to get him out of that door. I was just so angry I charger into that apartment and his dad was sitting in front of the television drinking. I asked him if he hit Tony, he yelled at me to get out, I grabbed him and asked him again. You know what that bastard said to me? He said, 'What do you care? The fucking shit needs discipline.' I didn't punch as hard as I could have, but I did throw him against the wall and knock him out. I went to his room to pack him some things because he wasn't going to stay there anymore. I talked it over with Tony, I told him he could stay here. That alright, Steve?" Clint looked up at everyone. The room had grown still and everyone was lost in thought.

"Yes, of course. Hell, he can stay here forever." Steve nodded furiously and looked around at the group before leaning towards Clint. "Where is he now?"

"He's sleeping in my room." With that they all stood and started walking towards the room. "No, guys. Sleeping. He's _sleeping_. He looks like he's had a long weekend so leave him. He said he didn't want to see anyone anyway." They all came back with sullen expressions on their face. Bruce breathed deeply and rubbed his face. Steve and Thor still stood, angry and ready for a fight. Natasha brushed a hand through Clint's hair and sighed.

"We should probably get Coulson down here." She said. "He should be informed immediately."

Clint nodded and excused himself when the agent arrived. He didn't feel like retelling the story. He walked swiftly to his room while they called down Coulson. He took a few quiet steps into the room and stopped. Tony was fast sleep, snoring lightly and curled up in a large bundle of blankets. He walked over and grabbed the pizza box from the nightstand grabbed the stack in the corner and left the room, relocking the door. He went to the kitchen and set the pizza boxes down by the trash can before going back to the living room where Coulson had joined them.

"He's fine. Out like a light." He looked over at a livid looking Coulson. Coulson actually liked the kid, once Steve had finished updating him on the situation he sent out to arrest the boy's parents. As he had said before, the safety of his agents are a top priority.

"So here's what's going to happen. In the morning I'll take him to fill out the paperwork to make him a legal ward of SHIELD. We'll get him a full medical exam to make sure he isn't seriously injured, move him into more secure housing and put some trustworthy agents with him until he turns eighteen." He crossed his arms and looked at the team, who were glancing at each other waiting. Natasha cleared her throat and looked at Thor.

"Nay!" The god said firmly. Coulson lifted an eyebrow. "The young one was betrayed by his family. I will not let him go off alone so easily."

"What Thor is trying to say, Phil, is that we already talked about this and we are completely into your plan, but we think it would be best if Tony stays with us." Bruce said, moving to stand next to Thor. His breathing was evening out but his fists were still clenched, shaking slightly. "You put him with us because he was too smart to be unsupervised. We can handle him."

"He's locked in Barton's room refusing to see anyone. He's in a delicate situation right now. We have people trained to handle this." Coulson sighed.

"But they're strangers. He knows us. We've only known him a week, but every day he was here we let him leave and go back there and get hurt. We're not going to let that happen again." Steve walked up to the agent and put a hand on his shoulder. "He doesn't need to be surrounded by strangers. He needs to feel safe and who if safer than the Avengers?" Coulson groaned.

"Fine. I'll allow you guys to have custody of him. We'll send for his things and prepare one of the spare rooms on the floor." Coulson smiled when the team did a silent cheer. "Barton, Rogers. My office tomorrow for paperwork. I'm making you both legally responsible for him."

"What? Wait, why me? I get Rogers, but me?" Clint asked.

"Rogers is team leader and Tony seems to trust you. He needs someone he can trust looking out for him."

"Congratulations guys. It's a boy!" Natasha said. She stood up and grabbed one of her guns from its hidden spot behind the bookshelf. "Now if you'll excuse me."

"Romanov, you can't kill him. I already sent agents to make the arrest." Coulson said to her, hiding his smile as the assassin groaned loudly.

"Damn it, Phil. The bastard was mine!" She put her gun back and sulked back to the couch. She frowned slightly and looked up. "What about his mother?"

"When I was there she was asleep in her room. I walked in looking for Tony's room. I don't know anything about her." Clint shrugged.

"When Tony's ready, we'll ask." Steve said. "Everyone should get some rest, it'll be an interesting day tomorrow."

"Alright. And everyone, the kid really enjoys fast food." Coulson left the Avengers and went back to his office and started pulling files on Tony Stark. Everyone else started picking up the living room, putting away their plates from dinner while Clint swept up the vase he broke.

"Well, goodnight everyone. I'll just be crashing on the couch since I let our much beloved child take my room." Clint said as everyone else started walking towards the rooms.

"God, Barton. You're like a baby!" Natasha said. "Come on and don't you dare hog all my blankets."


	10. Chapter 10

"There is so much paperwork!" Clint said as he signed another paper and put it in the large pile next to him. Steve smiled at him as he finished filling out the forms he was given and handed them back to Coulson.

"You're becoming the legal guardians of someone who's still on our watch list. Of course there is going to be paperwork." Coulson took a sip of his coffee and pulled two files from his briefcase and laid them in front of the two men before grabbing up the piles of paper. "Alright. Congratulations, he's yours now. I'm giving you both copies of his family history, his medical history, and his education records."

"Thank you, Coulson. We'll do right by this kid." Steve said as he picked up the file.

"I'll make sure you do. I want to meet with one of you tomorrow. Once he's up and feeling comfortable I want a full report on his mother's role in this and anything else that seems important. We're going to send him down to the medic tomorrow to be looked over." Coulson nodded to the two men and left.

They both glanced at each other as they opened the files. It started with his education. He's been in advanced placement classes his entire life and passed them all even though his files were littered with detention notices for not bothering to show up half the time. Then about a year ago, just after his fourteenth birthday he got his mother's permission, at least her signature, to take the GED test and leave school. Then they moved on to his medical history. Clint closed his eyes and sighed at the list of past injuries and hospitalizations.

"How does a seven year old even end up in the hospital with broken ribs?" Steve turned the page and clenched a fist. "They keep writing 'suspected abuse' but they didn't do anything!" Clint shook his head and continued down the list. Bruce came in through the elevator carrying several large bags. He looked at the two men and nodded.

"New parent stuff? That's good." Bruce held up the bags in his arms. "I went grocery shopping. Bought a bunch of fruits and vegetables, low in calories and high in nutrients. Oh, they also had fruit snacks shaped like us so I got a box. It'll be good for teenagers."

Bruce went into the kitchen to put the food away while Steve and Clint moved on to the family history section. There wasn't much information that stood out. Clint's eyes went through the list of genetic illnesses that ran in Tony's family and little bits of information on his ancestry when he stopped at one bolded sentence. _**Family history of drug and alcohol abuse.**_ He looked up at Steve. Clint hadn't told anyone he found Tony drunk, he figured it wasn't his place. He knew Tony was in a bad place when he found him, that he was looking for an escape even if it was just a temporary one. However, Steve was responsible for him now, they bother were. He needed to know these things.

"Hey, Cap. There's something I didn't mention yesterday in front of the whole team." Steve looked up, confusion and worry written on his face. "Tony had been drinking yesterday. I don't think it's something he did often, we should probably ask him. We just need to keep an eye on him."

Steve nodded and closed his file. "We'll help him."

Moments later Thor and Natasha walked off the elevator with bags of Taco Bell, they had decided that it would be the fast food Tony wanted. They laid out all the food and pulled all the chairs into a semi-circle around the couch. Natasha and Bruce began arguing over whether or not to put on cartoons or the science network, not knowing which Tony would prefer. Clint stood and began walking towards his room and looked back at Steve following him. He nodded as Clint entered the bedroom alone and closed the door.

OOOOOO

Tony woke up later than usually feeling sick to his stomach. He laid in bed for half an hour whining until he sat up and looked at his room. Only it wasn't _his_ room. Then it all came back to him. Fucking Hawkeye had found him drunk and beaten and brought him home. And he said he could tell everyone else. Know they were going to treat him like a delicate little flower and want to talk about feelings and Tony groaned at the thought of it.

He dug through the duffle bag Clint had packed until he found his AC/DC shirt and his jeans and went to the bathroom. He looked into the mirror, the bruises around his jaw and cheek hadn't faded completely just yet, but they weren't as noticeable as the deep purple surrounding the area just left of his nose. His eyes wandered to the dark marks circling his neck. He shuddered at the memory of hands around him, squeezing so hard he couldn't breathe. He turned away from the mirror and turned on the shower. He turned it on as hot as he could without it burning him.

Tony finished his shower, got dressed, and sat back down on the bed. He sighed and dug through the duffle bag again, smiling as he pulled out a small metal contraption and began working on it while he used the key Clint gave him as a makeshift screw driver.

"What are you making?" Tony looked up at the question. Clint had come in, so silent he hadn't noticed.

"It's a dart gun. I made it out of our old toaster. It shoots….darts." Tony shrugged as he continued his work.

"Really? Does it work?" Clint moved forward to sit on the bed.

"Yeah, I just needed to tighten a few screws." Tony put down the key and pulled a dart out of his bag. He put it in the gun and handed it to Clint. The man stood and aimed at the target painted on his wall before firing. There was a light whoosh and the dart embedded itself into the center.

"That's incredible. I can't believe you made this." Clint laughed and handed it back to Tony, who shrugged. "So Steve is outside. We were hoping we could talk to you."

Tony looked up at him. Did he want to talk to Steve? He desperately wanted to avoid the feelings talk and if he was going to get one it would be from Captain America. However, he was in charge so it was his job to oversee everything that happens, including Tony moving in. He looked up at Clint and nodded. The archer went to the door and let in Steve, who hurried in and stopped a few feet from the bed, tense as he looked over the teen.

"Good morning, America." Tony said, crossing his legs and sitting up straighter.

"Hey Tony. We talked to Agent Coulson and all the paper work had been signed. You're staying here with us from now on. We're having your room prepared and people have been sent for your stuff. Barton and I are now your guardians." Steve said slowly, immediately going to the point. He stared at Tony's face, ignoring the bruises as best he could and focused on reading the boy's emotions.

"And you decided all of this for me?" Tony said simply. Clint knew he would be difficult, help wasn't an easy thing to accept.

"This is the best course of action." Steve sat down to be at eye level with him.

"Wouldn't the best course of action be to let me decide what happens to me?" Tony frowned.

"Tony, you agreed to stay here last night. The only thing different is that Cap and I have been made legally responsible for you." Clint sat down across from him, far enough not to invade his space.

"I don't need anyone to be legally responsible for me. And I was drunk off my ass last night so why are you going by my words from then?!" Tony yelled as he moved to stand up, backing away from the two men.

"Your fifteen, Tony. You may be the smartest kid in the world, but you're not even allowed to have a job yet, let alone lease an apartment or visit a doctor by yourself." Clint said.

"Do you drink often?" Steve asked. He desperately wanted to jump up and hold the boy who looked at him desperately at the question. He just took a deep breath and waited.

"What? No. It was a first. I-I just wanted to forget the feeling." Tony said as his hand went up to brush his neck. Steve looked away angrily while Clint stared at the purple marks lining his necks. "I'm hungry. Can I just get some food?"

"Yeah, the team bought a whole Taco Bell. We were hoping you would join us today." Steve said. Tony shook his head. He wasn't ready for everyone to see and stare at him. He wanted to eat alone.

"No. I want to stay in here. That's if I'm allowed to make this decision for myself." Tony said bitterly. Clint left the room, leaving Steve alone with him.

"Tony, we're not here to force you to do anything. We're not here to run your life or make all of your decisions. We're just here to help you and watch out for you while you figure out your life and what you want." Steve said to him. Tony looked at him for what seemed like an eternity before his expression softened.

"I don't need help." Tony whispered. Clint came back with a large bag of food and put it on the desk.

"Then one last question before we go and then you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day." Steve said. "We have to know your mother's part in this."

Tony deflated completely. He looked completely between Clint and Steve quickly for anything to help him form an answer. He shook his head and backed further towards the bathroom.

"You didn't arrest her, did you? You can arrest that bastard all you want, but she never laid a hand on me." Tony whispered quickly. "She's sick. She needs help. She can't stop herself."

"Tony, we won't hurt your mom. It's drugs isn't it?" Clint looked Tony in the eyes. He nodded. "She didn't hurt you. We can probably get her into a great rehab program and you can go visit her as often as you'd like. We just need you to let us help you."

"That's blackmail, Agent Barton." Tony said after a moment, a small smile coming on his face.

"I've been a SHIELD agent for years." Clint shrugged.

"Fine. I'll stay, but expect a lot of complaining." Tony said. Clint smiled and left the room as a relieved looking Steve followed. Tony sighed and walked over to his bag of tacos on Clint's desk, right next to his computer.

In the hallway, Steve sighed and leaned against the wall. He didn't understand why Tony was so upset, he had been completely honest and was only doing what was best for him. He looked over at Clint and made a face.

"Why was he being so….. stubborn?" Steve sighed. Clint shrugged.

"I don't know a lot about parenting, but I hear teenagers are like that." Clint said and frowned slightly. "And given his circumstances, I assume he wants to feel control over his life. He wants to feel like he doesn't need help, even if he does."

"I can understand that." Steve frowned. The two of them went back out to the living room where the team was waiting.

OOOOOO

The next day, Steve went with Tony to his medical exam. Clint had gone to speak with Coulson, he was more familiar with the agent and was sure he could get him to agree with the plan for Tony's mother. The three of them had discussed it that morning. He wanted his mom to go to a place that would help her and he would be updated on her progress whenever he asked. If he ever wished to visit her, one of them would go with him. Steve was thankful for the agreement, he wasn't too keen on blackmail, but they needed Tony's cooperation so they could help him.

Tony had just gotten back from his x-rays and bloodwork, but started fidgeting when the doctor asked him to remove his shirt to look at the bruises closer. He remained calm during the examination and Steve felt a wave of relief, which was gone when the doctor returned and frowned at his expression.

"Mr. Stark, do you have any problems with your arms?" The doctor asked. Tony looked confused and then nodded. "Which one?"

"Sometimes my left arm hurts and I have trouble moving it." Tony furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

"You have a malunion in your left radius. At some point a bone in your left arm was broken and healed improperly, leading to deformities." The Doctor said. Tony rolled his eyes and groaned.

"What would you suggest we do?" Steve asked.

"Surgery. We need to realign the bone." Steve nodded slowly as Tony quickly started objecting.

"Or no. Yeah, I've lived with it and I can still do that. No surgery." Tony said quickly crossing his arms. At that moment Clint burst into the room. "Big Bird's got my back on this, right?!"

"I was told to get down here to sign off on a surgery. What?" Clint asked. He nodded when the doctor explained again. When Tony began protesting again he smiled. "Tony, you need this and you said you'd let us help you."

"But I don't need surgeries or medications or therapies. I just need a ride down to Burger King!" Tony yelled.

"We'll get you Burger King. You can have as much disgusting fast food as you want, but first you have to let us do this." Steve said, bending down to look Tony in the eye.

"Alright, but you have to buy for my friend, Rhodey, too. He's a big Captain America fan." Tony smirked. He figured if they got to blackmail him he would blackmail them and what was better than parading superheroes in front of his friends.

"We'll have to get your friend security clearance to know you're living with us, then sure." Steve smiled.

"Alright, let's fix my arm." Tony said.


	11. Chapter 11

"Ugh! God, the pain. I'm dying!" Tony groaned loudly and rolled over on the couch. He clutched the splint on his left arm and cried out until someone walked in.

"Don't move your arm so much, you'll irritate the stitches." Bruce said as he walked into the living room to check on him. He smiled at the boy warmly and put down a warm cup of tea on the table next to him. "If it hurts then take your medicine. They prescribed you some really good pain pills."

Tony let out a long whine, stopping to take a sip of his tea and continued to whine as he put his cup down. Bruce sighed and pulled the pill bottle out of his pocket. Tony shook his head.

"Come on. You're in pain, this will help." Bruce took out two pills and held it out to the boy.

"God, I don't want your damn pills! I want to sit here and whine for a bit while everyone pays attention to me!" Tony yelled as he rolled over again, still holding the splint on his arm. Bruce sighed again and put the pills away. He didn't understand why Tony refused to take them, but he wouldn't force him. It was the first time Bruce had seen him since Clint had brought him home and he didn't want him to run back to his room.

Bruce tried not to stare at the bruises that were still prominent along Tony's face and arms. And every time he saw the marks circling his neck he felt a wave of rage he rushed to suppress, breathing deeply. He was going to do everything possible to not only make the younger boy comfortable, but happy and healthy.

"Alright, I'll pay attention to you, but you have to eat your blueberries and yogurt. Then when Nat gets back from Burger King you can have the whopper you wanted and she'll pay attention to you too." Bruce said as he pushed the bowl towards the teen. Tony groaned, he hated healthy food.

"That's just not fair. You can't hold that delicious burger hostage until I eat fruit." Tony sat up and pushed the bowl away. He whined at the slight movements of his arm.

"I won't let you eat that garbage until you eat something that's good for you." Bruce said firmly, lifting a spoon full of yogurt and berries up to the boy's mouth. If he wanted to act like a baby he would be fed like one. "Open up."

Tony leaned back and grimaced, but he reached forward to grab the bowl. Taking the spoon in his hand he took a single bite and stuck out his tongue. Bruce laughed and then shook his head. This kid was hopeless if he was going to fight so much about eating fruit and yogurt.

"There, I'm eating your hippy food. Why don't I run off and grow organic vegetables in the forest or something." Tony frowned as he ate another spoonful of yogurt. "You know what they did to me? They bolted my bone together with a metal plate and I'm not even allowed to eat burger. A good old fashioned American hamburger, crafted by the gods and infused with the essence of life."

"Not until you eat something healthy and I highly doubt that's how Burger King makes whoppers." Bruce sat next to Tony on the couch and turned on the Science channel. A special was on about robotic engineering and Tony perked up immediately. Thor walked in and smiled at the two.

"Hello friends. Our young scholar, I have finished building your bed and would like to inquire where you would like me to put it." Thor smiled. He had spent the day in Tony's new room with Steve putting everything together. Tony was glad all his things from his old apartment had arrived, but he wondered what the place looked like now. He knew his parents wouldn't be there, so it would be empty and quiet.

They had gotten him a large bookshelf to accommodate his book collection along with a new desk and computer, although Tony wasn't sure what good it would be since he was still had that goddamned bracelet on his right arm watching his every electronic move. He asked Coulson to have it taken off, but apparently his probationary period wasn't over yet.

"You know the really big window? Put my bed right up against that." Tony said as he shoveled another spoonful of yogurt into his mouth and grimaced. Thor nodded and called the information back to Steve. He then sat down and smiled at Tony.

"How fares your arm? I hope it doesn't cause you too much trouble." Thor said smiling between Toby and Bruce.

"Oh, just horrible agonizing pain." Tony said, handing his empty bowl to Bruce. He stuck his tongue out at the man as he laughed.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt as much if you took your pills." Bruce said.

"It is admirable to face pain, young one, but it is also admirable to bring peace to those who care for you." Thor smiled softly down at Tony.

"It's not that. I just don't want… I don't need to take drugs to feel better." Tony said again. Bruce was about to say something more when Natasha came in with bags of Burger King. Tony jumped up and Thor had to grab his upper arm to stop him from swinging his injured limb. "Finally! And I ate the crap so I can have my whopper. Those were the terms."

"So Natasha, Tony's being a baby about the pain and demands we pay attention to him." Bruce said, reaching for the bag and hands Tony his burger.

"I can do that. So Tony, Clint's in DC today and he took his laptop with him. He texted me wondering why every time he clicks paste, no matter what he copies, it pastes the phrase, 'I want to plow your fields.' You know anything about that?" Natasha smiled and ate a few fries

"I don't like this kind of attention." Tony said quickly. Steve finally walked into the room and reached for the bag of food. "Stevie, they're being mean to me in my wounded state!"

"Tony…" Natasha held back a chuckle as she pressed the boy.

"No one put's Rick Astley on my phone!" Tony said finally.

"Well, you can talk about this with him tomorrow when he gets back." Natasha laughed and kissed the boy's forehead.

"Nah, I'll just go see Rhodey tomorrow. At least he's nice to me." Tony said, whining again and shifting his arm.

"Alright, but he hasn't been cleared yet so you can't tell him about us." Steve said, bringing over the sling to put Tony's arm in and immobilizing it. "Stop moving it. You sure you want to go to your friend's house? You just had surgery a few days ago."

"Yeah, he's my best friend and I need to explain a few things to him." Tony bit into his burger and smiled.

"Want me to drive you?" Natasha asked.

"No, I like walking."

OOOOOO

"Wow, Tony. Why didn't you tell me?" Rhodey said a moment after his friend finished. He clenched his fists and looked over the bruises and the sling his arm was hanging in.

"I don't know. I guess I was just scared, but everything is fine now." Tony nodded.

"He did that to your face? He broke your arm?" Rhodey inhaled deeply.

"Well, yeah. But my arm happened a long time ago but it healed wrong so they had to rebreak it and set it correctly." Tony shrugged. "Really, I'm fine."

"Where is he now?" Rhodey stood, he looked up and down Tony angrily. He would find the bastard and kill him.

"Easy, Rhodes. I guess he was arrested." Tony looked up at Rhodey, who was still waiting. "God, I don't know where, you lunatic. You gonna break into prison and shank him?"

"If needed be." Rhodey sat back down and looked at Tony more closely. Howard strangled his best friend, he could have killed him. Rhodey frowned at each bruise he glanced at. "What about your mom?"

"She's in rehab. She's been doing fine the past few days." Tony sighed and fell back on the bed, mindful of his arm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Tony groaned when Rhodey said the words. He had been avoiding the dreaded feelings talk for about a week since Clint had found him. Most of the week had been spent hiding out in the room given to him or in a hospital room recovering from surgery. "Okay, you don't want to talk about it. So where are you staying?"

"Eh, I was put with this really cool….. foster family. They're nice." Tony said.

"I want to meet them. As soon as I possibly can." Rhodey said quickly.

"You will. I'll talk to them and we'll see how soon I can set up a meeting. When he took me to get my arm fixed he promised to buy us burgers anyway." Tony said as he moved to sit up. "It's horrible, Rhodey. They make me eat fruits and vegetables."

"Good, you've been living off of burritos and burgers for years." Rhodey grinned. "I'm surprised the nutrients didn't put your body into shock."

"Haha." Tony stood up then. "You're hilarious. Anyway, I should start heading back."

Rhodey walked Tony to the door and waved as he left. Tony walked quickly down the street, he liked walking. It gave him time to think. He knew Clint came back today and he wondered what kind of retaliation the archer was planning. Apparently he was emailing Director Fury about something top-secret and accidently pasted in the phrase, 'I want to plow your fields' and sent it out. Tony was just surprised his bracelet allowed him to recode Clint's computer. His mind then moved to dinner. He hoped Bruce made something with a lot of meat in it, he hated vegetables. Thor understood, they shared a special bond of being picky about their food. Tony knew Natasha would take Bruce's side, so would Steve.

Tony sighed, these people cared about him. He had never had anyone so determined to make sure he was alright before. It was incredibly annoying, but also heartwarming. Damn it, they were growing on him. Tony frowned, he knew it was only a matter of time before they started hating him. He could handle it when his parents stopped liking him, but he didn't want to do that again.

Tony was lost in thought, he didn't notice anything amiss at all until he was grabbed roughly from behind. A calloused hand quickly covered Tony's mouth and the boy through his arms back instinctively at his attacker. When his injured arm made contact with the solid body holding him still searing pain shot up his entire arm and he screamed into the hand keeping him silent. He kicked out, desperate to make a hit when a needle injected something into his neck and he started to feel weak.

Tony's legs stopped kicking and fell limp under him in a few moments. He looked around desperately, barely able to hold his head up. Whoever had attacked him was carrying him now. He noticed another guy walking to a car he was also being moved towards.

"No, don't like drugs." Tony whispered, glancing at the syringe in the man's hand. "Don't want to take drugs." He couldn't focus, his mind drift towards his arm. The sling had slipped off when he swung his arms and he could see a red liquid slowly dripping out from under his sling. Tony sighed, he had torn his stitches, Bruce would be upset. Probably make him eat an apple or something. Then Steve would drag him back to the doctor while Clint endlessly played "Never Gonna Give You Up." Tony chuckled. He could probably get Nat and Thor to sneak him movies while he was in the hospital.

No, that's not right. Tony shook his head trying to focus. He was thrown into a trunk, that wasn't good. He wanted to lift his hand up to stop the door from closing and locking him in but the fuzziness in his limbs stopped him. He tried to fight the heaviness that pulled his eyelids down and lost, falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author Note - Feel free to give me as many reviews as you want. I love comments, they make me happy. You guys are wonderful.**

"Tony's late." Clint sighed irritably. "How am I supposed to ground him for messing with my computer when I'm grounding him for being late?"

"Do both, but come on. You're really going to ground him?" Natasha asked, raising her eyebrows. Clint smiled and shook his head.

"Nah, just threaten to. Gotta teach the kid who's boss."

"By not grounding him." Bruce said, glancing at his watch. "He is running late though. He's missing Stephen Hawking's lecture on his theory of evaporating black holes. He was excited for that."

"Oh no. What could he possibly want to do more than that?" Clint said sarcastically. He chuckled for a moment before pausing. Tony was really into science, he probably wouldn't skip this. "Maybe he's in trouble."

"It's only 9:15. He's probably just watching it at his friend's house. We'll give him another hour and then go out looking for him." Steve shifted, glancing at his watch. "We have to give him his space. Let him know we trust him."

"Maybe we shouldn't have let him out by himself so soon after his surgery. He's vulnerable." Natasha said. She looked fiercely at Clint. She shifted her leg to feel the knife strapped to it and sighed. If something happened to Tony they would have to act fast, waiting around would be a bad option.

"Our young Tony has a warrior's spirit, if we lock him away to protect him then he will only run off to be more reckless." Thor smiled, sitting back in his chair. "If it worries you, my friends, perhaps we should call upon Coulson for guidance."

They nodded slowly and waited quietly for Coulson to arrive. Tension was building in the room, everyone was imagining what could have possibly happened to Tony. Coulson exited the elevator moments later, looking amused and annoyed.

"You guys call me every few days with your problems. I do have other things to do." His smile dropping slightly when everyone jumped up to meet him. "What is it this time?"

"Tony went to a friend's house today and he isn't back yet." Steve said nervously. Coulson's eyes widened.

"You lost Tony?" He said.

"No! We knew exactly where he was going and told him to be home by eight, but he's so late we're worried." Clint said. His mind was racing with possibilities. What if Tony was hit by a car, or kidnapped, or abducted by aliens? Goddamn it, he glared at Thor.

"Did he go alone?" Coulson asked calmly.

"Yes, he said he liked walking." Natasha said quickly. "We wanted him to feel comfortable with us. We decided that him make a lot of his own decisions on the little things would make it easier on him. I wasn't thinking."

"Certainly giving him what he wished was not the reason for this, Natasha." Thor put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

"Can't you track him? He still has the bracelet thingy." Clint shouted.

"He needs to be within a few feet of a device giving off an internet connection for us to track him. I'll have the techs see if they can find him. You guys go to the friend's house to see what he has to say. Bruce, you wait here in case he comes back." Coulson pulled out his phone and turned back to the elevator.

The Avengers took the elevator silently down to the garage where Natasha motioned everyone to a SUV. Clint sighed as he got into the passenger seat, they were all just going to roll up to some kid's and start asking questions? Sounds good, but he might be a bit distracted what with all the superheroes. It was a short drive, no wonder Tony didn't mind walking. They were there in a few minutes and walked up onto the porch.

"Okay guys, be polite." Steve said, knocking lightly on the door. "Don't scare the kid."

The door opened and a woman smiled at him. She glanced quickly at the five of them.

"Hello, ma'am. May we speak to James, please?" Steve asked politely.

"Oh, are you with the military? I know he's been talking about signing up and talking with you guys."

"Yes." Steve nodded. She opened the door for them and pointed down the hall.

"He is in his room down the hall." The team walked quickly down the hall and knocked on the door. A tall teenager opened the door and stopped when he saw them, recognition painting his face.

"Oh my god. Captain America…. And you're Thor! Oh shit, all the avengers are in my house." Rhodey said quickly opening his door wider to allow them in. Clint nodded and walked up close to him.

"Yeah, that's us. How's it going? Where's my kid?" Clint said darkly looking down at the teen.

"Hawkeye…" Natasha warned, pulling him away. Rhodey closed the door once everyone was inside. He looked at each of them. Thor was sitting uncomfortably on his bed. Hawkeye and the Black Widow were standing against the wall, glancing out the window every few seconds and whispering to each other. And then there was Captain fucking America, standing in the middle of his room with his arms crossed staring him down.

"Wow, you guys are in my room. Do you want some tea? Snacks?" Rhodey smiled at them.

"Um, no. We want our kid." Clint crossed his arms.

"I don't understand. You guys have a kid?" Rhodey didn't move from the door. The avengers team had taken over his room and he didn't know where to go.

"Yes. We sort of adopted this kid and he hasn't come home yet." Steve said, taking a step towards the teen. "He said he was coming here."

"The only person who was here today was my friend, Tony. He's not going to believe me when I tell him about this." Rhodey said quickly. Then paused for a moment. "You guys aren't talking about Tony right?"

"We took him in, yes. Now, he said he was coming over here, but hasn't come home." Steve said calmly. Tony wasn't here. Bruce would have called if he made it back to base. He was either still out walking or gone.

"Wow, he told me he was staying with new people. I just never expected you guys!" Rhodey said, waving his arm at everyone in his room. He looked down quickly and bit his lip. Tony was missing? "He left here at seven."

The room grew grim. That was three hours ago, not a word from him. Natasha pulled out her phone and quickly texted the information to Bruce and Coulson. She shifted her leg again to feel the knife strapped to her calf under her jeans. If Tony was being hurt by someone she would bury that knife into them.

OOOOOO

Tony groaned. His whole body felt fuzzy and every part of him ached. He shook his head furiously until feeling returned to his head and then he tried to open his eyes. Odd, he was either someplace really dark or his eyes refused to open. He ignored the possible third option that he had lost his eyesight. He began wiggling his fingers, they moved easily, but his hands stayed firmly in place. He noticed then that they were tied together.

"Shit." He muttered and he to fling his body forward. He stopped suddenly because the moment he pressed forward he was met with a sharp pain across his upper arm and chest. He leaned back again, realizing he was sitting up in a chair. He pulled harder on his hands, crying out at the pain emitting from his left arm and stopped. "Shit." He whispered again, trying to breathe.

Tony struggled to be as still as possible, moving his arms caused too much pain. If he leaned in any direction it would be painful as well, he decided that he was tied to the chair by something. Whatever it was it probably dug into his skin while he was out and now the pain came from putting pressure on it. Either way, Tony's whole body throbbed, each pulse bringing a fresh wave of discomfort.

He jerked at the sudden sound of a door slamming. He turned his head towards the sound of footsteps. Then he was flooded with light, he blinked away the blurs from his vision and focused on the man standing over him. He had a black bag in his hand, it must have been over his head. Thank god, he wasn't blind. He looked up further to focus on the man's face and his stomach dropped.

"Good to see ya, Tony!" Justin Hammer smiled. Tony looked around the room quickly. It looked like a basement. He looked down at himself. They had taken his shirt and, sure enough, he was tied to the chair with a metal cord that had dug slightly into his skin when he was passed out. The room was entirely empty except for Obadiah Stane sitting in a chair across from him. Tony's heart leapt. He remembered Steve telling him about how dangerous these people were and looked frantically between the two men. He was so fucked.

"Now, Tony. We only want to talk." Hammer said, circling him like a shark. "About your friends at SHIELD. You see, they seem to have shut down my company."

"I don't know anyone at SHIELD." Tony said, keeping his voice steady. He wasn't going to be a scared child begging for mercy, not today.

"Come on, Tony. I said I would keep an eye on you. You think my people didn't notice you going off to SHIELD headquarters every few days? You've been living there for about a week now. I told them that if they ever saw you to bring you in. How lucky for us that you were just walking down the street." Stane said coldly. He stood and walked up to him. "Now, just tell us what you did."

"I didn't do anything." Tony had barely finished speaking when his head jerked to the side from the force of the hand that slapped him. He reeled back and whimpered quietly. "I didn't. I didn't tell them."

"You know, you look terrible Tony. Look like you've been on the losing end of one too many fights." Hammer said angrily, growing more and more impatient. "You seem to have broken your arm."

Stane reached behind Tony and squeezed his arm. He felt the pop, probably would have heard it too if he could have stopped screaming. The pain was too much, he leaned to his right swiftly into the cord holding him to the chair in an attempt to either pull away from Stane's grip or redirect his attention to something else. When his arm was finally released he sat there for several moments, panting desperately as he continued to lean in the chair. He pushed to straighten himself once more, feeling a stream of warm blood flowing down the new cut in his right arm from where he pushed too heavily into the cord and another dripping off of his left arm steadily.  
>"I guess I have." Tony muttered once his breathing evened out. Stane walked out in front of him, grabbing Tony's face roughly. Tony inhaled sharply and held his breath as the fingers squeezed his jaw tightly, putting pressure on the fading bruises that lay there. However, Tony focused on how Stane's large palm scooped below his chin and touched his neck. He didn't want hands that close to his neck again and this was becoming too much.<p>

"You sold us out." Hammer said from behind Stane. His voice sounded more annoyed than angry.

"He probably gave them access to all of our files as well. That would explain how SHIELD found out about our weapons dealings and our other projects." Stane pushed Tony's head back forcefully as he let him go. "What's SHIELD's plan of action? How many of our… employers do they know about?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything! I don't know what your business is doing. I don't know what SHIELD knows about you. I don't know how this became my life. I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to do, but I do know that you guys are fucking psychopaths!" Tony yelled back at them. God, he was so royally fucked. Tony knew he was, no point in denying it. Hammer walked up to him, knelt before him until their faces were inches apart.

"You want to know what my company does? We make weapons for the military. We did a little underground trading with a few terrorist groups all around the world. And we also make a few… things for this one group trying to take down the US's intelligence agencies. A bit fanatical, but they pay very well." Hammer pulled a syringe out of his pocket and took off the cap. Tony jerked away immediately, not more needles. "You're familiar with this one. Project Mare, it induces nightmares. They wanted it for torture."

"No no. Please, I don't want any." Tony begged as the man jabbed the needle into his upper arm. Tony whimpered softly as his head started filling heavier.

"Sweet dreams, Tony." Stane said, picking up the black bag and pulling it back over his head. Tony shuddered as he returned to darkness.


	13. Chapter 13

It started out pleasant enough. Tony was sitting on the couch, reading a book Rhodey had recommended. It was like when he was young. His mom was smiling, cooking dinner and calling him her "beautiful boy". Howard came home from work and sat down next to him, watching tv. Tony knew he was dreaming, this was back when everything was good and his parents loved him. He closed his book and held his breath. He must have been dreaming of how things were a long time ago before he became too much trouble, before his mom couldn't stand him and started locking herself in her room and sleeping all day. Before his dad started drinking and telling him it was all his fault, that he should have been a better son. That he should have listened more.

"It wasn't my fault." Tony whispered. He was trying to think of when Coulson had visited him when he was in the hospital. Tony didn't count it as a feelings talk because the agent did most of the talking. "People do things because of themselves. I didn't deserve it."

Tony sat in silence for several moments. Then he was grabbed roughly by the hair and thrown forward. The scene changed quickly. His happy, smiling mother was gone, probably hiding away in her room. He looked up quickly to see Howard staring down at him.

"It's not my fault." Tony curled into himself and kept whispering it to himself, over and over. He felt a hand grip his scalp and pull him up again. He faced his father as he was pushed back against the wall. He was dreaming, he knew he was. He would just have to wait it out. His heart stopped as rough hands slowly circled around his throat.

Dream or not, Tony panicked. It was happening again. He kicked and screamed but the hands still held firm. They didn't squeeze, not hard enough to cut off his breathing. "We hate you." Howard said firmly, holding him in place with his hands at the boy's neck. "Everyone will always hate you."

Tony closed his eyes, willing himself to wake up. When he opened them again, Howard was gone. Steve stood in front of him, pinning him back with his hands around his neck. Tony struggled to keep his breath as steady as possible. He reached up and grabbed the hands on him. "Ste- Steve, I'm sorry. I'll come home. I'll eat Bruce's stupid food and stop messing with Clint's computer. I'll listen to Thor's battle stories and do whatever you and Natasha say. Please, let me go."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows and moved closer. "We don't want you, Tony. You're not worth it." Steve said to him, voice sure and firm. Tony whimpered. He should have expected this, they were his new family. His old family stopped loving him so of course his new one would too. "We hate you."

Tony pushed as hard as he could against Steve's chest. He wasn't going to do it again. He could survive his parents, but these people could kill him. Steve squeezed then. It was only a light pressure against Tony's neck, but he started kicking as hard as he could and clawing at his attacker's face.

When Steve's grip loosened he ran free. He bolted for the door, sure to never come back. He would sooner have nowhere to go then be back here. He jolted awake the moment he ran out the door. He screamed, both from his nightmare and the searing pain as he pulled desperately on his arms. He swore into the bag covering his head. It was a dream, he willed himself to remember.

"You guys are going to have to do better than that!" He called out into the darkness. If he got out of this he silently swore to himself he would be better. He would do everything he promised dream Steve he would do. He wouldn't let his family hate him this time.

OOOOOO

"Coulson, tell me some good news." Natasha said into her phone as she stepped into the bathroom. She was still at Rhodey's house, thankful when he called because the teenager was now showing them his Avengers action figures still mint in box. "According to Tony's friend, sometimes he likes to take off. If Tony was just hiding out somewhere he would definitely be around a computer that we could track his bracelet through."

"He's been off the grid as of two hours ago. We can see him leaving the Rhodes residence and we catch glimpses of him walking back to base. Then we have him moving quickly west, in a vehicle. After that we lost him." Natasha sighed at the information. It was better than nothing, but he could be on the western side of the city or they drove him that way to throw them off before they lost contact. "The bracelet is to monitor internet and tech usage. Not to track people."

"Send me his route. I'll check it out." Natasha hung up and walked back to Rhodey's room. She smiled slightly seeing Thor singing an Asgardian song and Steve signing another Captain America comic book. Rhodey looked up quickly when she entered.

"Did you find him? He has a habit of getting himself into trouble, but he's a tough kid. He's usually fine in the end." Rhodey looked around. "Like with his parents. He ended up with you guys. He was over here telling me about nice you guys were. Had I known it was you guys, the lucky bastard, I would have followed him home."

The room grew silent for a moment. Clint kicked Rhodey's bedframe with a sigh. "Of course he was talking about how great we are. I'm a delight." They all looked at Natasha desperately then. She swallowed, knowing they were hoping she would tell them Tony was back at HQ eating crap and breaking the rules. Clint was the only one to come close to asking. "Please tell me we have news so I can stop hearing about how awesome it was that we saved New York. I know it was awesome, I was there."

"No one will ever stop talking about it! You were all over the place shooting people with exploding arrows and then Captain, you were jumping around shielding everything. Thor, you did the lightning thing off the top of the Empire State building and then when the Hulk threw the nuke into the portal, it was beautiful. And the Black Widow, genius enough to figure out how to close it." Rhodey started ranting. You guys saved the world." Rhodey said quickly, then stopped to look up at Natasha.

"Coulson sent over a map of the path Tony took. He was walking back to base then suddenly veered off towards the west." Natasha said calmly. They all started getting up and heading for the door, even Rhodey. He followed quickly behind Thor only to be stopped by Steve.

"Son, you're gonna have to stay here." Steve said firmly. Rhodey shook his head.

"What? No, sir. Tony's my friend. I've known him for years and, sorry to say it, I know him a lot better than you guys do." Rhodey stared Steve in the eye and reached out to touch his shoulder. Rhodey had a moment of 'holy shit I'm touch Captain America's shoulder' thoughts before returning to the issue. "I can help you find him."

They stood there for few moments before Steve sighed. "Fine, but you have to ask your mother."

Five minutes later Rhodey was sitting in a black SUV with four avengers. He told his mom he was going to hang out with Tony, she loved Tony, and if they found him it would technically be true. They drove to every spot Tony's bracelet came close enough to a wireless internet signal and scanned the area. They found nothing out of the ordinary until Thor called out angrily.

"My friends, it is Tony's." Thor held out the torn, slightly bloodied sling. They all sighed out angrily. This was as much confirmation as they needed to know that someone, a dead man, had taken him. Thor gripped the sling tightly. "What madman would take our young scholar?"

"Does anybody know you guys took him in? A few days back he was telling me about these guys he was worried about finding out he's been hanging out with these other people. I'll just assume he was talking about someone finding out about you guys." Rhodey said.

"He told you someone was threatening him?" Steve said tensely. He went back to think of all the times he had spoken to Tony, anything that would be important. "He did ask me once what would happen if someone from Hammer Industries made contact with him."

"But SHIELD seized the company. We froze all of Hammer and Stane's accounts, shut down all of their weapons manufacturing, both with the military and… other organizations." Clint said quickly, glancing between Steve and Rhodey.

"But we never found them to make an arrest. Maybe they think that if they have Tony they could barter for their freedom. Perhaps they think he knows something about the operation." Natasha said. She was quick to hide her anger as she thought of everything she would do to them once they found Tony. She pulled out her phone and called Bruce and Coulson to put them on a conference call. "Guys, we have a lead."


	14. Chapter 14

When Bruce found out about the torn, abandoned sling, he had what he usually called an incident. When the Rhodey and the team returned back to base he was locked in his special room for when he needed release. The walls in the room were specially enforced to withstand a beating from the Hulk and it was always kept full of breakable objects for the big guy to wear himself out on. He immerged several hours later, exhausted and headed immediately for the kitchen to grab an energy drink.

"Are we getting another kid?" He mumbled as he glanced to Rhodey.

"Oh, no. This is James Rhodes. He's Tony's friend." Steve said as the kid jumped up to great Bruce. He held out his hand to shake.

"Rhodey, sir. It is an honor to meet you. Tony talks about you all the time. Goes on and on about science stuff. But the Hulk thing, so cool. Like when the giant squid monsters were attacking Brazil and you just took your giant fists and squished them. Amazing." Rhodey said quickly. Bruce chuckled a bit and glanced around the room.

"So, we believe Hammer took him." Natasha said, looking up from her laptop. "How are you feeling?"

"Calmer." Bruce said, walking over to her. "Do we have an idea on where he might be located?"

"Where ever they are, they're keeping Tony away from any form of tech we could use to track him." Clint said, sitting from his spot on top of the bookcase cleaning his bow. "Nat's looking at properties owned by Hammer and Stane."

"They have several in the area, a few houses just outside the city and few more upstate." Natasha said, printing out a list of addresses. "We've been looking all night, we'll get some rest and start looking in the morning."

"We should take the quinjet and go now." Clint said firmly.

"What if we do find where they're keeping him? He's been missing for over 24 hours and we haven't slept for a moment of it." Steve said sadly. "We'd be exhausted, reckless and we would only put his life in more danger."

The team stood around in silence for a moment before nodding. They all walked off to their respective rooms, Rhodey deciding to take the couch.

OOOOOO

Tony sat in the chair silently, focusing on his breathing when the door opened again. He closed his eyes as the bag was ripped off his head and tried to adjust to the bright light. He blinked up at the two men.

"Hey, what's up Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-Dumbass." Tony's voice was rough, he had screamed longer than he intended after he woke up and it had been awhile since he had something to drink. Hammer walked behind him and unlocked the handcuffs around his wrists. Tony sighed as his aching arms began to hang limply as they unhooked cord from around the chair. Without it, Tony fell onto the floor. He never would have thought a cold, dirty concrete floor to be comfortable but he accepted how wrong he was once he pulled his injured arm up to his chest and rolled onto his side.

He laid there for several moments before he was grabbed roughly by the hair and pulled him up. Tony tried to push Stane away lightly with his good arm. "You should really be nicer to people who are in charge of you, boy." Stane said, moving away. Tony wobbled a bit as he tried to sit up on his own.

"Did you have a good night, Tony?" Hammer smiled down at him.

"No, had a terrible dream I looked like you." Tony glared back up at Hammer before receiving a swift kick to the ribs, hearing a slight crack. He yelped loudly and held his left arm to his chest desperately while trying to hold himself up with his right.

"I have to say, you're one of the rudest guests I've ever had, but I'm willing to forgive all of that if you will do me a favor." Hammer smiled viciously. Tony looked from him to Stane, he wasn't going to help these bastards. Not even if they paid him his weight in diamonds.

"Tony, I know that look. I think we can persuade you." Stane sighed angrily, pulling out a gun and pointing it at Tony. The teen's eyes widened and his breath hitched.

"Alright, let's not get hasty. I make some mean hotdogs, I'll cook some up and call it even." Tony smiled. Stane sighed and grabbed Tony's hair to drag him to his feet. He motioned him with his gun to start walking. Tony was led out of the room and upstairs into a mostly empty house. It was sparsely decorated and he looked out the window to the forest surrounding the house. "Where are we? Upstate?"

"Doesn't matter. Just know you're far from the city and apparently no one is doing much to look for you." Stane said, forcing Tony into a chair at the table in the dining room. Tony looked down at the grooves in the wood, of course they wouldn't be wasting much time on him. A laptop was placed in front of him and he looked up, puzzled.

"Remember when we first met? You stole my money and I hired you to break into SHIELD's networks? Good times." Hammer said as he sat down next to Tony. "Hack SHIELD again. I want you to shut down all of their systems."

"Do you think that if their servers are offline they wouldn't be able to find you?" Tony laughed. "Also, I kinda have a broken arm, it was doing fine until Mr. Clean over there probably broke it again!"

Stane sighed in frustration and pointed the down at Tony's leg. The loud bang echoed through the house and was immediately followed by Tony's screams as he slunk to the floor and clutched his leg. They shot him. They fucking shot him. Stane picked him up and threw him back into the chair. "If you can't use one of your arms, then type slow."

Tony breathed deeply, slumped in the chair for several minutes until he could focus on something besides the pain coming off his entire body. He reached out to open laptop and paused when a shine on his right wrist caught his eye. He was still wearing his SHIELD bracelet. He looked back up at his captors. They were standing across from him, they couldn't see what he was doing.

He pulled up google as fast as he could with one hand and started searching for the most noticeable things he could think of. "How to build a nuke?", "Anarchy 101", or "911 I've been kidnapped" until the screen went dark with a simple message that told him to stay where he was and then shut off completely.

"It stopped working." Tony said quickly. He tried to sound as confused as possible, but he felt the relief swell in him. SHIELD knew he was here, they were going to find him. They were going to arrest these bitches and he was going to get out of here. Hammer walked around to look at the computer screen. He hit a few keys and tried to hit the power button. Stane raised his gun back to point at Tony.

"What did you do?" He said coldly at the boy. "Did you tell them where we were? Did you tell them who we are? What did you do?" Stane grew increasingly louder at each question as Tony kept shaking his head. Tony stood and waddled away from the table as he tried to keep his wounded leg off the ground as much as possible, backing up against the counter.

"If you can't do this for us, then tell us everything." Hammer said, turning quickly. "Who's in charge of SHIELD, identities of the Black Widow and Hawkeye, Project Insight, how to get into the headquarters, anything."

"I- I don't know anything. They didn't tell me a thing." Tony stopped talking after another loud bang. He glanced down at the small hole that had formed on his stomach and began to slowly drip blood. He slid down the counter and gripped his stomach. He looked up at Hammer and Stane yelling at each other. He flinched when Hammer ran up to him.

"Are they coming?" He asked quickly. Tony looked around, ignoring the stinging coming from his gut before shaking his head lightly. "Shit, they are."

"Then they'll have a surprise waiting for them." Stane put his gun on the table and walked out. He reentered the room moments later carrying a large bag. Unzipping it he reached inside and moved the contents around for a few moments. Standing, he glared back at Tony. "Sorry it had to end this way. You could have been a great asset to us, smart as you were."

They walked out and when Tony heard the car drive away he picked himself up and limped over to the bag. He stumbled a bit, feeling lightheaded, but he focused as best he could. Blood was flowing more steadily from his stomach now, he probably shouldn't be moving. Tony shivered at how chilly he began to feel and took a shaky breath. He fell to the ground once he got to the bag he looked inside. A bomb. Of course it was a bomb. Tony sighed. It was counting down from twenty minutes, enough time for SHIELD to get there and take out the team that came in to rescue him.

Tony looked around quickly, he didn't know how to defuse a bomb, but maybe he could get it to go off early and reduce casualties. He looked up and smiled at Stane's gun that was left abandoned on the table.


	15. Chapter 15

Everyone slept uneasy. The team managed to get a few hours of sleep once they got their minds to settle, but Rhodey just sat quietly in the living room watching tv, thinking about his missing friend and the fact that he was in the home of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. He had gotten through several episodes of weird science fiction show they had on their DVR when an alarm started sounding and Coulson ran in from the elevator. A confused Rhodey looked around as five avengers in pajamas ran out to meet him, fully alert.

"We received a signal from his bracelet about two minutes ago. The bastard was searching terms he knew we would track, but we locked onto him the moment he got near that computer. He was being held a few miles north in one of Stane's houses in the woods. Get dressed, you're taking a quinjet and a full medical team." Coulson said quickly and the team began to disperse. Rhodey began to stand to get ready. "No, kid. You're staying here with me."

"But I can help." Rhodey said immediately.

"You can help once we get Tony back here. He'll probably be upset, you'll have to help us calm him down so we can help him the best we can." Coulson said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder. Rhodey nodded and returned to his seat on the couch as the team came running back, fully dressed for combat.

"What's the plan? Shoot everyone who isn't Tony?" Clint said, slinging his quiver over his shoulder. They took the elevator up to the hangar and ran over to where a jet was being loaded with medical supplies.

"The building isn't very secure, we shouldn't have a problem getting in." Natasha said as she climbed into the pilot's seat.

"Everyone put in a comm. Hawkeye, I want you on the roof. You'll be scouting out the area, catching runners. Bruce, I want you to stay in here with the med team unless the Hulk is necessary. If Tony's hurt he may need you more as a doctor. Thor, you keep the enemy distracted. The Widow and I will enter the building to look for him and take down hostiles." Steve said firmly. They all nodded and began the silent flight out of the city.

"Shit!" Clint called out. Natasha's face darkened as she began to hover over the building, half on fire. She landed the quinjet several yards from the inflamed house. Bruce sat down with the medics and held his head in his hands and Natasha, Clint, and Steve ran for the building.

OOOOOO

Tony examined the bomb closer. Of course, these guys were weapons manufacturers, they would use something stable to build it. He did know one thing about bombs, it's something you pick up after reading dozens of engineering textbooks and living with two super assassins, destroy the detonator and it will blow up. He was careful examining the bomb, his left hand was pushed limply against the wound in his gut and he slowly pulled the small detonator out with his shaking right hand. He placed it on the outside of the bag and kicked it into the living room, as far from him as it would go.

He crawled over to the table and flipped the table. He reached for the gun that had fell onto the floor and scooted behind the table. If he could shoot the detonator then the bomb would go off before any rescue team arrived. He gave a silent prayer that the sturdiness of the table was enough to protect him from the blast and raised the gun and he peeked out from behind it.

He missed. The bullet caught the couch just behind the bag. His vision blurred slightly and Tony rested his head on his arm. He was tired, cold and exhausted. He couldn't stop shivering as his whole body ached, but what if Steve, Clint, Natasha, Bruce, and Coulson came to get him and that bomb went off?

Tony raised the gun again and took a few shaky breaths before firing again. The bullet found its destination this time and the bomb engulfed the front of the house in flames. He watched the metal of the table rip apart in front of him and he felt heat and an invisible force throw him back against the cabinets.

Tony pushed himself up into a sitting position slowly. He felt like he had gotten the wind knocked out of him and he couldn't take another breath. He smiled to himself, now no one would get blown to pieces walking in to rescue him. He looked down at himself and frowned, clutching his left arm to where he was shot he pressed his right hand to the cuts on his chest that were bleeding the worst. Now he would just have to wait, they would be here soon.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment in an attempt to stop the spinning in his head. Someone was yelling at him, telling him to open his eyes and wake up, but he was exhausted. He didn't want to. They started shaking his shoulder. Tony groaned and reached out lightly with his good hand to push them away, but they grabbed it and held it tight.

"Come on, Tony. Look at me." The voice said, he thought he knew that voice. "Steve! He's over here. You have to carry him. Clint and Thor went after the car."

Tony opened his eyes a bit then. It was Natasha. What was she doing here? He was trying to sleep. She clapped her hands in front of her face when she say his eyes open. He looked around and say the burning house and his battered, bloody body and remembered. He looked up at Natasha, wide eyed, and whispered. "I was shot."

Natasha nodded quickly and moved over as Steve, oh he was here too, moved in beside her. "We're going to take care of you now. Cap's going to pick you up, okay?" Tony began to look around, only to have the two shouting at him for his attention again. He nodded slowly and Steve put his arms behind Tony's back and beneath his legs and picked him up.

Tony laid his head on Steve's shoulder and looked up at the sky as they went outside. It was midday, beautiful and sunny. He focused on his shallow breathing as the sky disappeared and he entered the jet. Then he was being laid down on a cold surface, he had had enough of the cold. Tony smiled weakly when Bruce appeared before him and put something over his face. He didn't know what it was but his breaths came a bit easier.

Then someone he didn't know started walking towards him with a needle. He didn't have much energy left in him to resist, but he pushed away slightly and whined. Bruce leaned over him. "I don't want drugs." He whispered to the doctor. Bruce closed his eyes sadly and sighed.

"We have to Tony. I'm sorry." Bruce said as the doctor injected him and he fell asleep.

OOOOOO

Once Tony had passed out, Bruce and the other medics quickly went to work on stopping the major bleeding. He had gone into shock so that and the massive blood loss were top priority at the moment. The medical team kept him alive long enough for the quinjet to reach SHIELD HQ and for a full staff of doctors and medics to cart Tony off. Bruce, Steve, and Natasha stood waiting in the hangar silently. They looked at each other grimly before walking towards Medical.


	16. Chapter 16

**Author Note - Still updating too fast. Just comment. I love comments and reviews.**

Clint aimed the arrow right at the gas tank of the car. He saw them, Justin Hammer and Obadiah Stane, stop at the gas station from the tree line. Two SHIELD fugitives driving away from where they found Tony, Clint and Thor needed no excuse. They also knew that if the fugitives were accidently killed before they could be apprehended then, that was a shame, but at least they weren't menacing society any more. He glanced over at Thor as the car began to pull away and continue down the road. The god nodded.

Hawkeye let his arrow fly. It hit the gas tank and exploded the vehicle moments later. He sat down in the dirt and sighed. After a few seconds he ripped his phone out of his pocket and read his messages, relaying them back to Thor.

"Nat says they got Tony back to medical alive, but… he's in rough shape." Clint said frowning. He put his head down into his hands and sat there. He looked up when a firm hand was placed on his shoulder and Thor sat down next to him.

"Are you well, my friend?" Thor frowned in concern. Clint shook his head.

"I failed him. God, Thor, I don't know what to do. I'm responsible for the kid and I couldn't help him." Clint looked up at the sky for a moment before looking back at the burning car and the emergency responders in the distance. "I don't know how to take care of a kid. I don't know what to do."

They sat there in silence for several moments, watching the smoke rising in the distance before Thor spoke. "I don't know much about raising children, but my mother used to tell me she never knew what to do with us. My brother and I were difficult boys, as you can imagine. I can only assume no parent knows what to do."

"Yeah, but I'm not his parent."

"Nay, do not say such things. You and Steve are very good to him. He appreciates it more than he lets on. You have done more for him than any other." Thor smiled slightly and patter Clint on the back.

"Alright, fine. I care about the little asshole. I like him. He's my kid." He swallowed and wiped at his face. "So what am I supposed to do if we lose him?"

Thor sat back, looked away, and pondered for several moments. He hadn't considered Tony dying. They hadn't gotten to see him, they heard of car speeding away from the location Tony was supposed to be at and Thor flew after it with Clint in tow. When it came in over the comms that they found the teen, but he was wounded, he didn't expect the worst.

"Then we honor his life and we remember the times we spent with him. I do not know where mortals believe their spirits go in death but wherever his may travel he will be welcomed with open arms." Thor nodded sadly. "We will drink to him. However, there is no doubt in my soul that his will is strong. He may survive us yet."

Clint nodded as he stood, watching the rescue workers pull out two scorched bodies and cover them. He pulled out his phone to text the details of Hammer and Stane's demise. "We went too easy on them."

OOOOOO

Rhodey ran down the halls quickly, dragging Coulson behind him. He didn't stop until he came to the waiting room where Bruce, Steve, and Natasha stood around anxiously. He inhaled sharply at the blood stains on Cap's uniform and stood at the door, refusing to enter.

"Is, uh. Is he?" Rhodey stopped talking after they looked up at him.

"We don't know." Bruce sighed. Coulson entered the waiting room and sat down. Rhodey moved from the door a few steps and sat down, right on the floor.

"You guys were supposed to save him." Rhodey hadn't thought much about how much trouble Tony could really be in, the fucking Avengers were out looking for him. These guys saved New York, they saved the world. They should be able to rescue a fifteen year old boy.

Steve slouched forward and Bruce put a hand on his shoulder. Natasha straightened and sighed. Coulson walked over to Rhodey and sat down on the floor next to the trembling boy. "They did everything they could."

"Well, it wasn't GOOD ENOUGH!" He yelled out and scooted further from Coulson. He breathed heavily. The room grew tense and everyone's faces darkened. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. He's my best friend. He has to be okay."

Steve moved across the room and sat down next to Rhodey. "You look out for him, don't you? You seem to be older than him." Rhodey nodded.

"I'm seventeen, so older by two years. We've been friends since he super-geniused his way into my year. He was really popular because he would do everyone's homework for money. I always thought it was weird because he always bought books or food or winter coats instead of normal teenager stuff like going to the movies or Captain America collectables. I guess it makes since now." Rhodey frowned. He didn't want to talk about Tony's parents, he didn't want to think about his friend having to take care of himself when there should have been people looking out for him. He mentally kicked himself for not noticing. "We became friends when I asked him to tutor me and since I work at Five Guys I would bring him a bunch of burgers and fries. He just stuck around and became my best friend. He listened to all of my plans to join the Air Force and I listened to all of his stupid engineering ideas to improve all of our electronics. He fixed my tv once!"

"He's a good kid." Steve said, smiling slightly. Rhodey nodded.

"He didn't deserve this. He should have been happy and safe from the start." Rhodey said coldly.

"If he makes it. If he pulls through, I promise I will do better. I will protect him. I will make sure he's happy. I will do my best for him." Steve promised, to anyone who would listen. Coulson stood up and flipped through his smartphone.

"Clint has informed me that he and Thor have taken down Stane and Hammer. The situation did not leave them open for an arrest." He said calmly.

"Clint's a lying moron." Natasha smiled softly to herself. They all stood at once when the doctor walked in and Steve approached him.

"He has a gunshot wound to his abdomen, another on his right calf. He rebroke his left arm, cracked three ribs, and has several lacerations across his chest and arms, we believe from restraints." The Doctor said to Steve, who encouraged him to speak louder for the whole room to hear. "Our main worries are blood loss, he lost quite a bit before he got here. Normally I wouldn't recommend surgery in his condition, but there was some severe damage to his chest that we need to-"

"Whatever needs to be done, you do it." Steve said quickly and firmly. He turned back to the room as the doctor left and returned to his seat on the floor next to Rhodey.

They all sat in silence, even when Clint and Thor ran into the room. Natasha stood and hugged Clint as he entered. Bruce smiled at the two and congratulated them on their mission. Steve shook both of their hands.

"He'll be fine. We're going to get him back." He said to the archer. Clint nodded and took a seat next to Natasha.

After a long while, the team went to go shower and change. Wash off all blood and grime and put on fresh clothes. They knew that it would be several hours before they heard anything about Tony, but they still worked quickly and everyone was back within twenty minutes.

Rhodey and Steve still sat on the floor, talking about life in the military and how it must have changed over 70 years. Coulson sat by the coffee machine with Thor, discussing which fast food restaurants served the best breakfasts. Clint, Natasha, and Bruce sat in the chairs by the window, making half-hearted jokes. They were all waiting.

Finally, the doctor walked back into the waiting room. He had a look of exhaustion over him and flinched back as everyone sprang towards him. He glanced at all the expectant looks he was getting and nodded.

"We were successful. Tony stabilized and will live."


	17. Chapter 17

Tony had slept for several days. Sometimes he would move positions, open his eyes for a second, or even mumble something incoherently before immediately falling back to sleep. The team was always at his side. Rhodey had to return home every night, but came back every morning and stayed the whole day.

Thor had bought out the gift shop down the hall and piled the balloons and stuffed animals into one corner. He had spent the better half of a day getting everyone to sign all the cards. After Tony murmured something that sounded similar to "pizza" Clint went out every day to pick up numerous boxes just in case he woke up wanting some. Natasha and Bruce played soothing music, they insisted it was therapeutic and would be good for him. Steve just sat around and read to him, he didn't know if Tony would enjoy A Tale of Two Cities but that's what he was getting.

After three days, Tony woke up. It was two in the morning and he blinked slowly at sleeping forms in the chairs surrounding him in the darkness. He pushed a mask off of his face and focused in on the room. He didn't recognize where he was or what was happening so he started to panic, sitting up to try to get away. He flinched away as the beeping next to him grew louder and the lights in the room turned on. He snapped his eyes shut and listened to everything.

"Hey, Tony. It's okay now. You're safe." Tony recognized the voice. He opened his eyes and recognized the face too. He paused for a few moments as he tried to remember the name.

"Bruce?" Tony leaned forward into the doctor's arms and looked around the room. Everyone was standing around them a few feet away. Tony became even more confused. Why was everyone hanging out while he was sleeping? Was that pizza?

"Are you feeling alright?" Bruce asked as he stroked Tony's hair. Tony frowned. Of course he was alright. He thought he was. He just wanted to know what was up with all of the stuffed animals. And the beeping machines he was surrounded by. And the people in white coats who stood by the door looking concerned at him.

"I'm in a hospital?" He asked. Everyone nodded. Tony sighed, of course he was in a hospital. He was hooked up to machines and there were doctors. Why did it take so long for him to figure it out? Bruce let him go and took a few steps back. The doctors seemed satisfied that he was stable and left the room.

"Do you remember what happened?" Steve asked slowly. Tony nodded slowly, groaning as the movement sent a wave of discomfort through his skull. Tony went to lift his right hand to hold his head when he felt a slight pull on his arm. Looking over he saw the IVs. He looked at his left arm, wrapped tightly in a gauze and put in another sling. He wrapped his right hand around the IVs was about to pull when a hand appeared on his wrist quickly and pressed, opening his palm without his permission. He looked up, frowning at Natasha.

"Don't like drugs." Tony muttered. Natasha held firm on his arm, stroking his hand gently.

"Tony, you have quite a bit of stitches so you're on an anti-biotic to prevent infection and morphine for the pain." Bruce said calmly. "It's very dangerous to try to rip it out."

Tony looked around the room for a moment before nodding and laying back down, much to Bruce's surprise. He even ate his applesauce without complaint because the doctors insisted he wasn't ready for pizza just yet. He perked up when Coulson came in while the others left for breakfast.

"Hey, Agent." Tony said softly. Coulson smiled and sat in a chair next to his bed.

"Good morning, Mr. Stark. Of course you would make it difficult for all of us and wake up in the middle of the night." Coulson joked. Tony frowned.

"I'm sorry. I'll be quiet next time. Let you sleep." Tony said quickly. Coulson shook his head.

"No, you did nothing wrong. You're so drugged up I should have known you wouldn't notice a joke. Every time you wake up you tell someone." The agent pointed, smiling. Tony nodded. "Now, we have to discuss your injuries. Your arm had to be reset, you have several cracked ribs, you were shot in the leg, but your doctors have said it should heal up just fine, and you were shot in the abdomen, the bullet missed all of your vital organs, but it'll take a while to heal so you should take it easy for a while."

Tony nodded along, following as best he could and trying to focus. He really wished to be taken off the morphine, but all of that sounded painful and Bruce insisted that he stay on it. He wasn't going to argue. After a brief pause Coulson continued.

"Now, listen carefully. If you don't get it all we'll talk about it more when you're better." Tony looked up and blinked at the words. "When the bomb went off several shards of shrapnel embedded themselves into your chest. Now, a lot of it was very close to your heart and couldn't get to it do to your extended loss of blood and damaged ribs. They had to get…. exceptionally creative."

Tony furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and gently lifted his hand to his chest. He frowned at the hard surface protruding from it. "What?" Tony asked.

"It's an electromagnet. It'll keep the shrapnel away from your heart. SHIELD has many long lasting batteries small enough to fit in there. At least until a permanent solution is found." Coulson said slowly. Tony poked at the thing sticking out of his chest and chuckled softly.

"I run on batteries." Tony laughed silently to himself. The team walked back in a moment later and Tony laughed louder. "Guys, I run on batteries."

"I guess he's taking it well." Natasha smiled. She walked over and sat near his bed.

"I suppose he is. Go easy on the joke, Barton. He'll take them seriously and start thinking he did something wrong. It's tough watching that kid apologize. Let me know how he does the rest of the day. What time he goes back to sleep, how long he sleeps, how much he eats, any emotional concerns, I want a full report at the end of the day." Coulson said as he stood. Steve took his seat once Coulson left while Clint sat by Tony's feet at the foot of the bed. Bruce and Thor took seats further by the wall, giving Tony space.

"Once you heal up, Nat and I are going to teach you some nice old hand-to-hand combat. Teach you to kick ass. Then you're going to learn archery, valuable skill." Clint said. Tony turned his head, confused.

"Why? So I can win the Hunger Games?" Tony muttered, then shook his head quickly. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."

"Tony, it's alright. It was a joke." Steve put a hand out slowly, stopping as Tony flinched back. Tony looked around the room frantically, rubbing his neck and glancing at the heart rate monitor as it began to beep faster.

"I'll be nicer, I promise. I'll do better." Tony whispered. Bruce stood and walked over slowly.

"What do you mean, Tony?" Bruce asked calmly. Tony shook his head and then looked up. Tony would have thought of a lie if his mind wasn't so fuzzy.

"I don't want you to hate me." He whispered sounding defeated. The room grew still for several long moments before Natasha started stroking his hair.

"We would never hate you. No matter what we wouldn't hate you. Get some rest, okay?" She smiled softly at him. Tony nodded.

"Okay, but can we go home tomorrow? I want to go home." Tony muttered and closed his eyes.

"Probably not so soon. You have quite a bit to bounce back from." Steve said sadly. "Soon, though." They sat there quietly until his breath slowed and evened and they knew he was asleep. Steve frowned up at the team.

"Why would he think we hate him?" He whispered.

"It's probably about his parents. He must think his parents hate him so we will hate him too." Bruce sighed, rubbing his face in his hands. "He backed down quickly when we insist he stay on his medication, he ate something healthy without a fight, he keeps apologizing, I think he assumes that if he behaves we won't hate him."

"Stane and Hammer. They must have done something." Natasha said, twirling her thumbs together. "We'll have to talk to Coulson about this."

"He doesn't want to be on morphine. Maybe we should take him off of it." Clint said. "He might be able to focus more and then we could talk it over with him."

"He would be in an incredible amount of pain." Bruce said firmly.

"But he doesn't want it. Have we ever asked why he never wants any drugs? Maybe he's worried he'll end up like his mom." Clint said firmly. "He's only accepting it because he's worried he'll disappoint you. We should take him off of it so he can think clearer and if the pain is too much for him we'll let him decide if he wants it back." Steve nodded, agreeing with him.

"If the young warrior is in pain, we will help comfort him. Assure him that he is safe." Thor said.

"Fine, sounds alright. I just don't want to see him hurt." Bruce sighed. They all nodded and walked off towards the chairs they slept in. Seeing how it was still very early in the morning they decided to get some more rest. Closing their eyes, they drifted off to sound of Tony's deep breathing and the steady beeping of his heart.


	18. Chapter 18

"Good morning, sleepy head." Tony smiled at the voice. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking into the light and ignoring the waves of pain all over his body. Rhodey was sitting over him, grinning wildly. "You wake up in the middle of the night for everyone else, you're gonna wake up for me. It's just the two of us while everyone went to a meeting or whatever."

"Alright, I'm awake." Tony groaned as he shifted to sit up, gripping his stomach as a sharp pain shot through it.

"Easy, just lay down. They took you off of your morphine a few hours ago so it should be wearing off." Rhodey frowned, gently pushing Tony back into bed. "My guess is it's starting to hurt now."

"Why did they take me off?" Tony asked as he laid back down. He leaned heavily on his right side due to a shooting pain coming from his entire left side. He lightly laid his throbbing arm over his ribs. His eyebrows perked up in confusion at hard surface protruding. He poked it for a few seconds before chuckling lightly. "Oh, yeah. Batteries."

"They took you off because they thought you didn't like it. They'll give it back if you ask them." Rhodey said. "It's going to hurt worse in a few hours, you should ask."

Tony shook his head quickly. He could do without. Tony looked around his hospital room, smiling at all of the blankets and pillows piled up by the couches and chairs. He laughed at the assortment of stuffed animals and "Get Well Soon!" balloons bunched into a corner. "Is that pizza?" Tony asked.

"Oh, yeah. Hawkeye keeps buying it in case you wanted some when you woke up." Rhodey said, nodding to the box. "Speaking of which, my best friend in the whole world failed to mention he was living with the goddamn Avengers. What the fuck?"

"I'll explain everything if you get me a slice of pizza." Tony smiled. He gasped as a sharp pain shot up his leg. If everything was hurting this much he dreaded how he would feel in a few hours. Rhodey shook his head.

"Your doctor said a soft food diet. I could go get you a muffin or maybe some pudding." Rhodey smiled, pulling a blanket up over his friend.

"You torment me with pizza I can't have and then offer me a muffin? I'll take it if it's an Egg McMuffin." Tony smiled brightly as Rhodey sighed. "Come on, work with me. I'm hurt."

"Fine, I think you can have that. If not then you didn't get it from me." Rhodey said firmly. "But before I drive down to get you your crap I want the story."

"Alright. I just broke into the SHIELD networks. No big deal. Then I was arrested." Tony laughed as Rhodey let out a frustrated groan. His laugh turned into a whine as his chest and stomach erupted in pain and he attempted to curl into himself. Rhodey immediately jumped up to gently lay him back onto the bed.

"Easy. I bet it does hurt, but you have to just lay down. Can't risk pulling on your stitches." Rhodey said. Tony's hands went up to grip the arms on his shoulders tightly and his breathing quickened. Rhodey loosened his grip and softened his voice, sitting down to be level with Tony. "Hey, hey. It's okay. You're going to be alright. I know it hurts, but can you take a deep breath for me?"

Tony nodded and took a quick, shaky breath. "I'm fine. I'm good." He pushed Rhodey's hands away lightly and continued to breathe. Then he smiled. "Then they interrogated me on why I did it. I was paid to. You should have seen the money, it was beautiful."

"Tony, you can finish telling me later."

"No, you wanted to hear it so I'm telling the story. I'm fine." Tony said firmly. "I was put on a sorta probation where I had to report to the Avengers a few times a week because I was deemed a 'security threat' and I could supposedly help them with one of their ongoing missions. I guess they noticed something was wrong and took me in." Tony forced a smile.

"You don't seem fine. Do you need some water or anything?" Rhodey asked. Tony shook his head and looked back at the stuffed animal pile.

"Where are they?" He asked quietly.

"At a meeting."

"No. Not them." Tony inhaled sharply and clutched his left arm, stroking it. "The, uh. You know."

Rhodey nodded. "Oh, yeah. They died trying to escape. They can't hurt you anymore."

"Alright. Okay. That's good. They weren't nice people." Tony muttered.

"You're probably tired. You should get some rest and I'll go out and get your McMuffin." Rhodey said, smiling as Tony nodded. "Want me to see if the nurse will get you anything to help you sleep?"

"No! No. I don't want anything!" Tony shouted out quickly. Rhodey sighed and left, turning the lights out on his way.

OOOOOO

Thor and Natasha walked back to the hospital room alone to check on Tony while everyone else went to go change and prepare for a few more nights down in Medical. When they entered Tony's dark room, lights out and curtains drawn, they frowned at the shallow gasps that filled the room.

"Tony, we're going to turn on the light." Natasha said slowly and paused for a moment before reaching out for the light switch. The two frowned at seeing the young teen curled up slightly in his bed. Thor strode over to his bed and put a hand out to calm him. Tony jerked and pushed the hand away from him.

"Are you in pain, young one?" Thor asked, pulling his hand away quickly. Tony shook his head.

"No no no no no. I'm okay." Tony gasped out. Natasha walked forward and sat down next to him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Natasha said calmly. "Remember, I can tell if you're lying."

Tony looked up at her desperately and then shook his head again. "I just had a bad muffin." He gasped out, lying. His McMuffin was actually quiet delicious and he would forever thank Rhodey for bringing it to him, but now all he could focus on was the terrible burning pain erupting his chest and stomach every time he breathed or the intense throbbing from his arm or if he tries to even move his leg a fraction it sends a shooting pang up his right side.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to take the pain away?" Natasha asked. Frowning at how quickly Tony shook his head.

"No no. I can take it. Don't want it." Tony squeezed his eyes tightly.

"I'm going to reach out and stroke your hair. Is that alright?" Natasha asked slowly. Tony nodded slowly and she put her hand through his messy locks.

"Thor. Thor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you away. I'm sorry." Tony said quickly, lifting his head slightly to look at the god. "Please, don't be mad."

"I am not angry, young one. I startled you so it is I that should apologize." Thor smiled softly.

"That's okay." Tony laid his head back and grimaced, clutching tightly at his chest. He closed his eyes again and leaned into Natasha's hand.

"Why would you think he would be upset?" Natasha asked softly. She saw Tony tense slightly and let out a whine. She frowned, hating how hurt he was. She hated how stubborn he was about taking medicine. She kissed his forehead and continued to stroke his hair.

"I-I just didn't want him to be upset. I don't want to hurt his feelings." Tony said quietly. Natasha hesitated a moment before nodding.

"My one concern is making sure you are safe and comfortable. I am sorry I failed you." Thor leaned forward. Tony paused and then nodded.

"Try to go back to sleep. We'll be right here." Natasha whispered. They stayed with him. It took a half an hour for Tony's breath to even out and for him to drift off to sleep. She continued to stroke his hair for another ten minutes until the rest of the team arrived. Bruce and Steve smiled when he saw the three of them. Clint gave a small chuckle.

"Aww, you're adorable, Nat." Clint said, moving to his seat by the window. "The doc says we can bring him home in about a week."

"Good, I'm worried. I think he's scared of us." Natasha said firmly. Everyone looked up at her quickly.

"Why would he be scared of us?" Steve said quickly. Bruce sighed, putting his head in his hands.

"I don't know. But he pushed away when Thor tried to touch him earlier and then kept apologizing for it. He said he was worried Thor would be upset with him." Natasha frowned.

"That's ridiculous. Thor's never upset with anyone unless they're trying to kill someone." Clint said quickly. The discussion would have continued, but one of Tony's doctors entered then, frowning at the group. Clint and Steve stood quickly to greet her.

"Good afternoon. I have the results from several of Mr. Stark's tests. Would you like me to tell the two of you in private?" The doctor asked.

"No, we're a team. Tony is their responsibility just as much as he is ours. They should know." Steve said.

"Alright. I'll start with the good news." The doctor said. Everyone snapped to attention at her words. "His body is accepting the electromagnet and the shrapnel is no longer moving towards his heart. We'll like to check on it every few weeks to make sure it stays that way. At least for a little while."

"And what's the bad news?" Steve asked calmly. He sighed, of course there was always bad news.

"We received the results from his blood tests. Everything came back normal, except we found the remnants of an unknown chemical. There was so little traces of it we believe he was exposed to it and it is quickly leaving his system." The doctor said. She glanced around to make sure everyone was paying attention. "We don't know what it does."

The team nodded slowly, glancing back at the sleeping teen while Natasha went back to stroking his hair. Clint and Steve shared a look while Bruce stood up and approached the doctor.

"Are the effects of this chemical permanent?" He asked quickly. The doctor shook her head.

"We don't think so." She said.

"I want the chemical formula sent over to me immediately." Bruce said coldly and turned away. The doctor nodded and left.

"What did they do to him?" Clint whispered.


	19. Chapter 19

Tony laid perfectly still in his hospital bed, trying not to move a single muscle that would erupt a wave of pain through his body. Instead he focused on Natasha and Clint who were busy discussing the basics of defusing and disposing of explosives because they highly disapproved of Tony's plan of shooting at it.

"Isn't there an off switch?" Tony sighed. The past two days his only visitors had been Rhodey and the two assassins. He worried the others were getting tired of him.

"Actually, sometimes." Clint smiled. "A lot of these guys like to know they can back out after they turn it on."

"But it is still important to know how to properly and safely disarm an explosive in case of emergencies." Natasha added quickly. "Did you get everything?"

"Yeah, I heard everything. I only shot it because I didn't want it to go off while you guys were there." Tony said. "Can I have my Jello?"

"Nope. Bruce made tofu and cooked carrots, he said you don't get Jello until you eat it. You're on your special soft diet and he wanted you to eat good not hospital food so he was nice enough to have it sent down. Eat up before I take your Jello." Clint leaned forward and pushed the tub over. Tony sighed at the meal, frowning as he jabbed his fork at the carrots and tofu with his good arm.

"Why did Bruce come down here himself to give it to me?" Tony asked, shifting slightly to lift the fork and cringing at the explosion of pain. Clint quickly took the fork from him and scooped up some carrots. "No, I can feed myself."

"Not without hurting yourself. You refuse medication, this is what we're doing." Clint said. He held the fork in front of Tony's face for several moments until Tony groaned and took a bite.

"Bruce has been down in his lab a lot these past few days. Something's come up and he has been trying to figure it out." Natasha smiled down at Tony as he silently ate his meal, grimacing after each bite. "It's not that bad."

"Alright. And the buff blonde brigade? They haven't been around either." Tony asked. Clint grumbled and held out another bite.

"I'm buff too. Just because I'm not an alien or a super soldier doesn't mean I can be kicked out of their blonde club." Clint said quickly. Natasha laughed and elbowed him.

"Steve's been helping Bruce and Thor has business on Asgard. He goes there sometimes to make sure the prisons are secure. Loki is locked in there and he nearly took over the world so it's for the best." She said. Tony frowned. Of course, they were just busy. Tony knew they would have other things to do, he was being selfish keeping them here and bothering them all day.

"I'm just gonna sit back and watch tv for a while. Give me my jello and you guys can take off if you want." Tony said quietly.

"We can stay. We could watch tv with you." Clint said, putting the fork down.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind. You guys go do what you do." Tony smiled. Natasha leaned forward and put the small container of Jello in front of him. Tony lifted his arm carefully, moving as little as possible and keeping his face as neutral as he could despite the new wave of pain, and grabbed the jello and a spoon. "See, I'm good. See you around."

"What, you having a girl over, kid? Why do you want us to leave so much?" Clint smiled.

"I just want to watch tv alone and you guys have other stuff to do. Okay?" Tony said quickly, opening his jello with his teeth and reaching for a spoon.

"Alright, but it can get lonely down here. If you need us back just call us and we'll come right down. It's a perk of being in the same building." Natasha reached forward and brushed back Tony's hair, placing a gentle kiss on his forehead. Tony nodded, he wouldn't call them.

"Don't worry, a few more days and you can come home." Clint said, walking out the door.

OOOOOO

"How is he?" Bruce asked, looking up from his computer as Clint and Natasha entered the lab. Clint sighed and sat down as Natasha pushed herself up to sit on the tabletop.

"Well, he paid attention to our talk on proper bomb disposal. He didn't say a word when we had him eat what you cooked up for him. You could tell he didn't want to eat it, tried to anyway, but it caused him so much pain to move Clint had to feed him." Natasha said, poking the archer's side.

"Should have gotten a picture. I hope he's not too uncomfortable." Bruce frowned. "He really ate it? No complaint?"

"No complaint." Natasha said. "He was confused on why you, Steve, and Thor hadn't been by so we explained that you guys were busy. Then he demanded his jello and said we could go so he could watch tv."

"Really?" Bruce asked. "Remember when they reset his arm the first time? He did nothing but whine, demanding we all pay attention to him. We had to deny him a cheeseburger to get him to eat a yogurt with some berries in it. Now he's eating without complaint and asking to be alone? I don't like it."

Steve, who had been spinning in an office chair, frowned. "You're upset that he's behaving?"

"No, it's just that he his behavior has changed drastically in about a week. I'm worried." Bruce said, turning back to his computer.

"He's been through an incredibly traumatic event. Maybe he just wants to be alone." Steve said.

"That's fine. However, once we bring him home and he's in a more familiar environment we should talk to him about what happened. Not push him, just ask him how he feels about what happened." Natasha said, watching as everyone nodded. "He's closing himself off. It's not good."

"In other news, I've analyzed the unknown chemical found in his blood." Bruce said. He pulled out a few papers and frowned. "I had his doctor do another blood test and it's out of his system, so that's good. However, the substance isn't found on any SHIELD records. I ran a simulation to see what it would do to a person. The results were inconclusive, but it did show an increased paranoia, anxiety, and an interruption of REM sleep. Those could all be side-effects."

"It sounds serious. Did anyone go back to where he was kept?" Clint snapped his head up. Steve nodded.

"I went back this morning. Most of the place was burned to the ground, but the basement was still there. It looks like that's where Tony was kept. It was just a chair bolted to the ground so it couldn't be moved and a bloody metal wire. It's probably what they used to restrain him and cause the cuts on his arm and chest." Steve said slowly. Everyone nodded after he finished. "I didn't find any signs of him being drugged, could have been lost in the explosion."

"Maybe he wasn't drugged, maybe he's an anxious, paranoid person with sleep problems so he gives off those chemicals naturally." Clint sighed. "Maybe we should, I don't know, ask him. Instead of standing around talking about what might be wrong with him. He was fucking kidnapped and tortured, he needs us to work with him. He doesn't need us bunched up secretly in a lab trying to figure out his problems while he sits alone watching The Price is Right." Clint leaned back in his chair while everyone else sat in silence, thinking.

"We'll talk to him." Steve said after a few minutes. "He comes home in a few days. Thor will be back by then. Give him time to get comfortable, then we'll talk."


	20. Chapter 20

**Author Note - I've been working on another thing recently. Hopefully I'll have time for this, it, and all my classes. Feel free to review. It lets met know you like it and makes me happy!  
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"Young one, it is a glorious day! Your stay here is over and we get to bring you home." Thor burst in smiling. Tony laughed at the god. Finally, he was going back up to the Avenger's floor. He had his own room up there that he got to spend one night in before this whole thing happened. Also, he could sneak junk food without Bruce getting upset with him. He knew Clint had some chocolate and cookie packages stashed in the vents in his room. Now he just needed to solve the problem of not being able to move much.

"Yeah, let's bust me out of here. The sooner the better." Tony said, lifting his arms slowly as Coulson, Bruce, and Natasha followed behind Thor. "Come on guys. The time has come."

"In a few minutes. Your Doctor is just telling Clint and Steve about how to properly care for you." Coulson said. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, everything hurts, but you kinda get used to it." Tony smiled. He nearly cheered when Steve pushed in a wheelchair as Clint and the doctor followed behind him. "Yes, let's go!"

The doctor approached Tony, she smiled forcefully and put a hand on the guardrail of his hospital bed. Tony didn't like her, she was always trying to get him on painkillers. A few days ago she was being exceptionally pushy, demanding he be put on something for when he leaves because he would be moving around more out of a hospital environment which would cause more pain. Luckily, Natasha was there to defend him. She can be very intimidating. Either way, Tony didn't want to stay. He didn't trust this woman, who was so intent on putting him on drugs.

"How are you?" The doctor asked. Tony gave a weak smile and nodded. "Alright. Now, listen up. It is very important that you stay on your diet. Your abdomen is still healing, it will be for a while, so it's important to eat soft foods. No more having fast food snuck in." Clint let out a sharp laugh as Steve sighed.

"I should have known you would get a hold of that stuff." Bruce shook his head. "You have a problem. It was Rhodey, wasn't it?"

"I bribed a nurse." Tony yelled out. "I get it, soft healthy cra-food. Can I go now?" Tony looked desperately around at the group. His doctor nodded and turned to leave.

Steve pushed the wheelchair up next to the bed. Tony was no longer hooked up to any of the machines and he was ready to go. He moved slowly to sit up, focusing on the wonderful flatscreen waiting for him just a few floors up. Thor stepped forward and pulled him slowly into his arms. Thor held him while Tony cradled his broken arm protectively, clutching the metal sticking from his chest with his left hand as he let the waves of pain pass over him. He nodded once he was more comfortable. Thor walked slowly over to where the wheelchair was waiting and slowly began to lower him into it.

Tony froze as he was sat down. The hours he spent tied to that cold chair screaming and trying desperately not to lean into the cord holding him still all came back to him. He closed his eyes at the bright lights, trembling at the thought of the black bag that covered his face. He didn't like it. He didn't want to remember being tied up in a basement in the middle of nowhere. He opened his eyes again when he felt himself being lifted from the chair, fearing _they_ had come back for him. No. Thor was just lifting him slowly back into his arms. He had missed the walk back and hadn't noticed the elevator ride. They were in the living room, back on their floor. Tony grabbed Thor's shirt and let out a shaky, relieved gasp.

"I am sorry. Does it hurt?" Thor asked calmly. "I will be putting you on the couch. Tell me if you are ready." Tony breathed for a few minutes, looking around at the room. It was exactly how he remembered it, he smiled at the thought. He would spend the day on the couch, he guessed based on the blankets and pillows piled on it and that Thor was standing next to it waiting. Tony nodded, breathing deeply.

Thor laid him gently onto the couch. Everyone rushed to make sure he was properly propped up with pillows and had enough blankets to keep him warm but not over heat him. Clint handed him the remote. Tony took it gratefully, turning on Cartoon Network and attempted to control his breathing while everyone stood over him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Bruce asked. Tony nodded, not turning from the tv. "Okay… I'll go get you something to drink. Strawberry Banana smoothie?" Tony nodded again, afraid to speak. His breath was still a bit shaky, he worried what he would do if he tried to speak. He settled himself deep into the pillows and pulled the blankets closer to him.

Bruce came back quickly and set his smoothie down onto the coffee table and waited. Tony glanced away from the tv quickly. Everyone was still there. Clint had taken up his spot on top of the bookcase, how he got up there Tony would never know, Natasha and Steve had drifted into a corner, and Thor was still standing over him, looking worried.

"Would you like us to leave?" Natasha asked, looking between Tony and Steve. Tony glanced back at the tv, showing a cartoon with talking candy and animals, and frowned at the chairs scattered around the living room. Tony furrowed his eyebrows, when did he become afraid of chairs? They were fucking chairs. _Well, you can get tied down in a chair_, He thought quickly. He looked back at the tv, desperate to ignore the thought. No one here would tie him down and it wasn't the chair's fault. It was _their_ fault. The fault of dead people who can't hurt him anymore.

"You can stay." Tony nodded quickly. "Please." He hated the desperation in his voice but smiled a bit as all the chairs were filled with the team. He started to breathe easier. They would stay with him. They would take care of him. Tony smiled as they laughed at the cartoon.

They were here, they were staying. Tony smiled, watching the team. Clint had come down from the bookcase and taken a chair right by the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. He pulled out a candy bar and smiled at Tony as he began to eat it. Bruce took the chair closer to the couch on his other side. He was sure to tell the teen not to hesitate to ask for anything before settling into the chair and watching the cartoon curiously. Natasha sat by the tv with Thor, explaining to the god what was happening in the show. Steve took the candy bar from Clint and shook his head.

"If he can't have it then you can't either. Don't tease him." Steve smiled walking to his chair.

Tony leaned forward and reached for his smoothie. He groaned slightly at the stretch his muscles made, giving him the all familiar sense of pain down his chest and stomach. He pondered the burning feeling around the electromagnet as he took a slow sip. There was a large hole in his chest and someone filled it with a big battery powered magnet. How did this become his life? Afraid of chairs, living with a bunch of superheroes, and had a hunk of metal in his chest.

He would have to figure something out for that. The batteries in the electromagnet would have to go, they weren't a permanent solution and would eventually have to go. He would figure it out, but now was not the time. Now he was watching tv.

Tony knew he shouldn't be bothering them, asking them to stay as if he couldn't handle himself. He worried they would start thinking he was clingy and annoying. They would hate him if he kept bothering them like this, he would have to do everything they say and heal quickly so he can go back to taking care of himself. He liked it though, they were paying attention to him, gentle and kind attention. He liked when Bruce made him food, when Natasha stroked his hair, watching cartoons with Thor that he didn't understand. He liked how concerned Steve always was and he liked joking around with Clint. He didn't want that to change.

Tony soaked in the comfort of the warm blankets, ignoring the light throbbing everywhere. He laughed as Natasha threw a pillow across the room to Clint. He was happy that they stayed, he knew they should be off doing some big important thing because of course they had better uses of their time, but Tony was just glad that he could lay here and watch cartoons with his family and pretend like everything was okay. He felt safe now.


	21. Chapter 21

It was the worst thing Tony could imagine. He felt the hands squeeze around his neck and the breath leave him, but he couldn't move to stop it. He wanted to reach out and push the hands away. He wanted to fight off his attacker, kicking and screaming, but his hands wouldn't move. He couldn't move anything.

_Oh, god. It's happening again!_ Tony thought desperately, trying to peer out through the darkness. No air would enter his lungs and tears began to fill his eyes as a litany of "hate you" came from the darkness. No, why couldn't he move? Why couldn't he get away? Tony struggled to breathe against the intense pressure and then he realized why. He was tied up! He couldn't be tied up, not again. The hands left his neck and Tony let out a gasping scream, drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

Tony gasped awake. Shooting straight up in his bed. He looked around quickly, holding his breath. He was in his room. He saw the bookcases against the wall that Thor had built and all of his old posters hanging up on the wall. Ignoring the pain coursing through his body from his harsh movements he grabbed his comforter and rolled under the bed. He pressed himself tightly into a corner and breathed as deeply as he could, holding his neck gently.

He laid there for hours, letting the ache all over him take his mind off everything. He took his focus off the pain at the knock on his door. He pulled himself out from under his bed quickly, but carefully. When did the sun come up?

"Just a minute!" He called out. Tony put his good arm over the side of his bed and clutched his left arm to his throbbing chest. He leaned forward, trying to push himself up onto the bed. He gasped out as his right leg pushed down against the floor, the pain shot through him and he collapsed back onto the ground.

"Hey, what are you doing? Are you alright?!" Suddenly Bruce was grabbing him gently, picking him up. Tony started kicking at the man holding onto him and tried to push away, letting out a shaky breath. He had to get away, they hated him. They were going to hurt him, they hated him. Bruce quickly laid Tony down on the bed and took a step back. "What's wrong?"

Tony scooted across his bed, backing against the large window. He turned his head to look out at the view and waited. Clint came into the room and frowned. "Tony? Are you okay?" Tony continued to stare out the window. "Bruce, what happened?"

"I knocked on the door to see what he wanted in his omelet and he told me to wait but then I came in anyway when I heard him call out in pain and he was on the floor. I went to pick him up and he started hitting me so I put him on the bed and now he's just staring out the window." Bruce said sadly. Clint placed a cautious hand on the doctor's shoulder.

"He hit you? Are you… okay?" Clint asked slowly. The Hulk usually made an appearance if he felt that Bruce was in danger, even if he wasn't. Hitting him could be dangerous.

"I'm fine. It was just a desperate attempt to get away, didn't even hurt." Bruce pushed Clint forward towards Tony. "Talk to him. He likes you." Bruce backed up and closed the door, making sure no one else would barge in and make Tony feel crowded or uncomfortable. Clint walked up to the bed slowly.

"Tony, hey it's Clint." He sat down on the edge of the bed, far enough away not to freak the boy out. "Can you look at me?" Tony nodded and glanced at the archer before looking down at the bed.

"Thank you. Bruce came in here and found you on the floor. Did you hurt yourself?" Clint continued, looking down at the blankets pooled on the ground. Tony shook his head.

"I, uh, I just wanted to get up and answer the door. Didn't get very far." Tony gave a small chuckle. "Better luck next time, right?"

"Tony, your blankets are all stuffed under the bed. Did you sleep under there?" Clint asked softly, bending over to pick up the comforter. Tony shook his head slightly.

"I wasn't sleeping under there." Tony said after a shaky breath. Bruce took a step forward, frowning.

"Were you laying under there?" Bruce asked. Tony didn't say anything, just turned to look back out the window. "It's okay if you were. We just want to make sure you didn't pull any of your stitches." Tony looked down for a moment, then nodded.

"Can I check them?" Bruce asked calmly. Tony pulled his arms closer around himself protectively. If they were going to hurt him, they would go for where he was already wounded. _No, they won't hurt me._ Tony thought. _If I behave, they won't hate me._ Tony nodded again and Bruce walked slowly up to the bed. He took the teens arm gingerly into his own, taking off the sling and unwrapping it slowly. He put it back on, satisfied with it and moved down to check the wound on Tony's leg.

"Can I ask why you were under your bed? You don't have to answer, I'm just wondering." Clint said, reaching out to put his hand on Tony's shoulder.

"I had a bad dream." Tony whispered. Bruce looked up and frowned at Clint, who nodded angrily.

"I'm going to have to lift your shirt to check your stomach, okay?" Bruce stayed crouching, waiting for an answer. Tony nodded, lifting his arms and pulling his shirt up. His stitched had remained intact and the electromagnet wasn't disturbed. "You're fine, Tony. You just gotta be careful, okay? You're still healing."

"I'm sorry, I'll be more careful. I'm sorry I hit you." Tony hung his head. "God, I'm so stupid. Why did I do that?" Clint grabbed Tony, pulling him in close. He gently began stroking his hair, as he has seen Natasha do.

"You are not stupid! You are the smartest kid I have ever met. Remember, you helped us get all that info on Hammer and bring down the terrible things they were doing. Making weapons for terrorists. They're the stupid ones." Clint murmured. "Don't ever say that again."

"Don't say you're sorry either. You did nothing wrong." Bruce said calmly. "I should apologize. I grabbed you without your permission or warning. I should have known that wasn't a good idea." Tony nodded again, leaning into Clint.

"Okay. Can I be left alone now?" Tony asked. Clint and Bruce shared a look.

"Actually, I was hoping you would come out for breakfast. I'm making omelets, you can pick what you want in it. Please?" Bruce asked. He didn't want Tony in here scared and alone. Tony nodded, he wasn't going to argue. He told himself he wasn't going to argue with them anymore.

"Alright. Can I pick you up?" Clint asked, standing. Tony nodded again, taking a deep breath and the archer lifted him into the air. He was carried gently out of the room and down the hall. He could hear the other Avengers mumbling hungrily in the kitchen. He gripped Clint's shirt as they turned towards the sounds.

"No. I want to sit on the couch. Can I eat in the living room?" Tony asked quickly. Clint nodded and turned around towards the living room. Once he was set down, Tony moved to sit up. He propped his feet up on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Tomatoes, green bell peppers, and cheese." Tony said, looking up at Bruce. Bruce was standing over him, looking concerned. Once he heard what Tony wanted on his omelet he nodded slowly and left.

Clint sat down next to Tony and waited with him. He grabbed the remote to turn on the sports channel, laughing at Tony's annoyed groan.

After about fifteen minutes, the others began to join them. Steve walked in and handed Tony his plate. Tony took it gratefully, putting the hot plate down on his throbbing stomach and began cutting up the eggs.

"How are you feeling Tony?" Natasha asked, handing Clint his plate and pulling a chair up to sit by him.

"I can move more with slightly less pain. Awesome." Tony said, not taking his eyes off of the tv.

"You look pale, young one. Do you feel ill?" Thor asked. Frowning when Bruce shook his head slightly at him.

"I'm fine. Just a little hungry." Tony said as he took another bite of his omelet.

"If you need anything, just let us know." Steve said, turning back to the tv.

"Actually, there is something. Something important, but I hate to ask." Tony said slowly. He didn't want to ask. It was too much. He also didn't want it, not at all. However, he had to know. He does something that people can't stand and it makes them want to hurt him. He has to know what it is. Tony squeezed his plate harder, choking down his fear. It'll be fine. He couldn't hurt him now. If he went, there would be guards to protect him.

"What is it Tony." Natasha asked.

"I need to talk to my dad." Tony said, looking down at his plate and away from the shocked and angry faces of the team.

**Author Note - Hi! Working hard on writing and school work. You guys look great by the way! Feel free to review, follow, or fave. I love those things. Hope you're doing good and taking care of yourselves. Be sure to drink plenty of water!**


	22. Chapter 22

"No! Absolutely not." Clint yelled out. Tony nodded and looked back at the tv, avoiding everyone's gaze.

"Guys, can I talk to you. Down in the gym." Steve said, typing quickly on his phone. "Tony, you stay here and enjoy your breakfast. Here is the remote, you can watch anything you want." Tony looked back at them, confused as Steve started ushering the team down the hall. He screwed up, he shouldn't have asked. He had gotten too greedy, asked too much and now they were going to discuss what to do with him.

The team stopped just inside the door, looking expectantly at Steve, who stood waiting. Clint crossed his arms angrily. "He's not going." He said loudly. "We're not talking about this."

"Talk about what?" Coulson said, coming in from the back door on the other side of the gym.

"What are you doing down here?" Bruce asked. Coulson walked over quickly, noticing the grim looks on everyone's faces.

"Rogers texted me. Told me it was an emergence and to take the back entrance into the gym." Coulson said, crossing his arms. "What is it?"

"Tony wants to see his father." Natasha sighed.

"He shouldn't go! That guy fucking choked the kid. Tony's terrified of him, why would we put them in the same room?" Clint yelled out. Bruce nodded. Everyone else stood quietly.

"Tony clearly has something he needs to talk about with him. It's not like we would send him alone." Natasha said, crossing her arms. "Plus, he's in jail. Not a chance he can get his hands on Tony."

"But we're working so hard to make Tony feel safe, taking him back to the person who hurt him in the first place could ruin all of that." Bruce said quickly. "However, it really depends on how important it is to Tony." Clint groaned angrily.

"They are his family. Although they have done him a great wrong, our young friend has obviously not let go of the connection they share. This could give him the peace of mind to move forward." Thor said, putting a hand on Clint's shoulder.

"He's in SHIELD custody across town awaiting trial. If Tony really needs to talk to him I'll allow it." Coulson said. "However, I want to wait until he heals more. So he's more mobile." The team nodded as Clint grumbled angrily.

"If he's going, I'm going with him." The archer said.

"No." Coulson said firmly. He raised a hand as Clint opened his mouth to argue. "The last time you were in the same room with Howard Stark you put him in the hospital. We want to not scare Tony."

"The bastard deserved it." Clint muttered angrily, crossing his arms. Natasha put a hand on Clint's shoulder, giving him an encouraging nod.

"I'll take him, Phil. He'll be safe with me." Natasha smiled. Coulson shook his head.

"No, I know the moment Tony's in the other room you'll kill the man." Coulson chuckled lightly and pointed at Steve. "You should take him. I expect you to behave. I want to know what Tony has to say to this man, but make sure he's as comfortable as possible. Don't push him to do anything." Steve nodded quickly. Coulson turned back towards the back door to leave.

"I think now's the time to ask him if he was drugged. We've waited long enough and I'm worried about him." Bruce said, following Thor out into the living room. Clint grabbed onto Steve's sleeve as Natasha walked up to him.

"Listen, Cap. I know the bastard can't physically hurt Tony where he is, but under no circumstances are you to let him say anything hurtful. The stuff will stick with him. Don't you dare let him call our kid 'stupid' or 'worthless' or anything like that. You have to protect him." Clint said quietly, pulling Steve close.

"If he does, you tell me because I will kill him." Natasha crossed her arms, looking into Steve's eyes angrily.

"Does Tony have a problem with that? Does he think he's stupid and useless?" Steve sounded defeated, looking between the two spies.

"This morning, he was hiding under his bed. He said he had a nightmare. Bruce picked him up off the floor and startled Tony pretty bad. He pulled away from us and called himself stupid and just kept saying he was sorry. He was scared." Clint shook his head. "We all know where Tony would get it in his head that he was stupid."

"He's afraid. My guess is, he's scared of us. He probably thinks we're going to hurt him, like Howard did, because he's 'stupid'. That's why he keeps trying to get away from us and then apologizing because he can't." Natasha said. She glared between the two of them.

"I'll talk to him. I'll make sure that man doesn't say anything hurtful to our Tony and then I'll talk to him on the drive back." Steve said. "I think it's important for him to move on that he does this."

"I still don't like it. You didn't see the look in his eyes when I found him over there." Clint said, turning to the door.

They walked back out to the living room. Bruce and Thor were sitting with Tony in the living room, watching a documentary on space and planets with known life. Thor was narrating loudly on which ones he had been to and whether or not they were a hospitable species. Bruce looked up quickly when they entered.

"Hey, Tony." Steve smiled down at the boy. "We talked it over and decided that, once you're feeling better, I'll take you over to go see him. Okay?"

"Oh, sure. Thank you." Tony smiled and nodded. "Where is he?"

"He's in jail. What he did wasn't okay, so he has to be punished." Natasha said. "The _legal_ way, I guess."

"Oh, Cap, did you read him his Miranda Rights?" Tony smiled.

"His what?" Steve asked.

"Nevermind." Tony chuckled. "You're too old to understand." Clint and Natasha laughed to themselves as they both sat on the couch on either side of the boy.

"Rude. I'm not that old." Steve said, moving to sit down. "How are you feeling?"

"Everyone keeps asking me that today. I'm fine." Tony said, turning back to the tv.

"Have you been feeling… anxious lately? Paranoid at all? Sleeping okay?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows. Bruce sighed.

"Smooth, Steve." The doctor said.

"Well, now I'm feeling a bit anxious and paranoid." Tony crossed his arms protectively over his stomach. "What's going on?"

"We found an unknown substance in your blood when you were brought in. We just wanted to know if they, Hammer and Stane, drugged you while you were with them." Bruce said, frowning at how Tony flinched at the mention of their names. Tony turned his head away slightly, thinking.

"What? Yeah, they did. They had to knock me out to get me away." Tony said quickly. He shook his head, giving a weak smile. "I didn't like it at all, couldn't think straight."

"Did they give you… anything else?" Bruce said softly.

Tony looked down and shook his head. He couldn't tell them. They would want to talk about it and he couldn't do the feelings talk. They would probably be angry if they knew he was comparing them to his other family. Clint had been so nice and told him they would be different, but Tony had to make sure he didn't screw it up.

Clint and Natasha gave each other a look. They were trained to tell when someone was lying. Natasha looked at Bruce and shook her slightly. The doctor's frown deepened. They gave something to Tony, something bad. They did something terrible and Tony was too scared to say what it was. How could they help if they didn't know? Bruce sighed.

"Tony, my young friend. Why don't we go back to your room and you tell me about your Midgardian books. When Steve and I were fixing your room I saw that you had a great many." Thor said, looking closely at each of his teammates. Tony perked up and nodded. Thor moved over to lift the boy.

"No, I want to try walking." Tony said. Bruce made a loud sound of protest.

"We can get the wheelchair if you don't want to be carried." Bruce said.

"No! No, I don't want the wheelchair." Tony said. Thor grabbed Tony's right arm and put another arm under his shoulders to help pull him up. He grimaced as pain flooded his body. He leaned against Thor, standing on left leg until it passed. "I just want to see if I can at least limp a bit of the way."

"Be careful with your stitches." Bruce muttered as Tony gently put his right leg down. Thor supported Tony as he limped forward slowly, stopping every few steps for the teen to catch his breath or take a break from the pain. It took only ten minutes for them to get back to Tony's room. Thor helped him sit down on his bed gently and the plopped down next to him.

"You have many wondrous books." Thor smiled. "I don't know where to begin if I am to understand Midgardian Literature."

"Cut the crap." Tony muttered. "They're talking about me. Aren't they?"

Thor paused and looked back at the boy. "Probably. You have been the topic of many of our recent discussions." He said, frowning when Tony hunched his shoulders. "They worry you are not well. We truly do care."

"You guys shouldn't. I'm fine." Tony said.

"Are you? You seem to be have a growing distrust for us and are more fearful than usual. Know this, we would never harm you. We only wish that you are happy and never hurt so horribly again." Thor said, leaning in towards him.

"Okay." Tony said.

"Excellent." Thor clapped. "Now which book shall I read first to enter the world of Midgardian Literature? As much as I love your pursuits in science, I would love to know your tales of heroics, love, and adventure. More than I would to learn about mechanics." Tony laughed softly.

"Alright. We'll start you off with that thick blue one up there." Tony pointed to his bookshelf. Thor nodded and retrieved the book. "This is a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It's considered a great novel here on Earth. It takes place over in Europe a few hundred years ago. The two cities are London and Paris."

"It sounds wonderful. My lady, Jane, and our friends are in London now." Thor smiled.

"Alright. You can borrow it. If you have any questions on anything you don't understand, ask anyone. I'm sure we've all read it." Tony smiled. "But first, I have to explain to you a little about the French Revolution."


	23. Chapter 23

The team watched as Thor helped Tony limp towards his room. They let out a sigh of relief when he made it. He was healing just fine, if things went well he would be walking on his own soon. Everyone else in the room sat in silence. They knew something was wrong.

"Are we going to talk about how Tony just lied to our faces?" Natasha said, crossing her arms and putting her feet up on the coffee table.

"This is bad." Bruce rubbed his face with his hands. "This is really bad."

"Which part?" Clint sighed. "The part where he was drugged with something we can't identify and don't know the purpose of or the part where he won't tell us about it?" The team sat in silence for several minutes.

"We need to confront him about it. He's not going to tell us and it's freaking him out. This isn't going away." Bruce said firmly.

"I'll talk to him about it. When I take him out to see his dad, if the talk is as beneficial as we think it's going to be then I'll confront him on the drive home. It'll just be me and him so it won't be like we're ganging up on him." Steve said, looking up at everyone expectantly.

"But he'll be stuck in a moving car so won't he feel trapped?" Clint asked.

"Well, we don't want him to run away. This isn't a conversation we can avoid anymore." Bruce said. Clint gaped at everyone.

"So, your plan is to lock him in a car with Steve until he tells the truth?" Clint yelled out. "What happened to gaining his trust?"

"We need to make sure he isn't in any immediate danger first! Either from whatever they did or from himself." Natasha said. She reached out and grabbed Clint's hand. "This is for his own good."

Clint let out a long sigh and nodded. "If he hates us after this, I'm blaming all of you. Then I'm taking him and running away to a nice tropical island where nothing will ever hurt him again." Clint said, pointing to each of them as they nodded.

Two weeks later, Tony could limp around on his own with the help of crutches. It had been nearly three and a half weeks since they got him back and his cracked ribs have mostly healed. However, the electromagnet in his chest and the gunshot wound in his gut would start throbbing after several steps. Tony limped to the kitchen for a snack, stopping every few steps to let the pain pass as he leaned on his crutches, and then continue on his way. He grabbed a bag of chips and sat on the ground eating. Bruce would came in, sighed at the boy, and then took away his chips in exchange for an apple.

"Why are you on the ground?" The doctor asked.

"I don't feel like walking back to the living room." Tony said, frowning at the apple.

"Then why didn't you sit at the island?" Bruce pointed at the kitchen island. Tony looked up from his apple, frowning at the chairs sitting around it. No, they weren't wide enough. He could get tied down to it with his hands cuffed behind him. He couldn't have that.

"More comfortable down here." Tony said, biting into his apple. "You should join me." Bruce smiled and sat down next to the teen.

"Big day today. You nervous?" Bruce asked. He knew he was nervous. He didn't like the idea of Tony seeing his father again.

"Yeah. We didn't really end things on good terms, you know." Tony chuckled softly, looking around. "I know I'll be fine. I'll be good."

"Just remember, you did nothing wrong. You didn't deserve that." Bruce said, putting a hand on Tony's shoulder. Tony nodded slowly. "Alright, come on. Almost time for you guys to go."

Bruce grabbed onto Tony's right arm, pulling him up gently. He walked slowly behind the limping boy who was propelling himself forward on his crutches. Steve was waiting in the living room, keys in hand. Tony followed him into the elevator, waving at everyone who came to wish him luck and see him off. Once the doors closed he leaned against the walls and put his hand to his throbbing stomach.

"If you're not feeling up for it we can go another day." Steve said, looking over concerned. Tony hesitated. He wanted to go back and hide in his room. Curl up under his bed with a flashlight to keep the darkness and the bad dreams out, but he knew he had to face his dad. He had to know.

They made it down to the parking garage. Steve had Tony wait by the elevator and came driving up in blue sedan. Tony sighed at the car and climbed into the back seat, putting his crutches at his feet. Steve frowned, looking back at the boy in the rearview mirror.

The drive across the city was quiet. Steve made casual comments about the weather and what might be for dinner since Tony could eat regular food again, but Tony just grunted in acknowledgement or simply nodded. They reached their destination in a little over a half an hour. It was a special SHIELD building, different from the base. Agents worked and slept at SHIELD HQ. This was more of a storage area for stuff that won't fit in their rooms while they stay on base, for excess files, very minor criminals awaiting trials.

They went up to the floor they knew Howard was on. Steve gave Tony's shoulder one last reassuring squeeze before leaving walking down to the visiting area. They walked into the large room, tables and chairs sat empty across the room, except for one. There he was. His beard had grown out a bit since he had last seen him and he was wearing a uniform, but he still looked exactly the same. He glared at them with angry eyes and Tony had to look back at Steve and the guard by the door for a moment before walking forward into the room.

"The fuck happened to you?" Howard said, his voice steady and sober.

"I… had an accident." Tony said, gripping his crutches harder. Steve pulled up a chair and sat down waiting.

"Who is this guy?" Howards pointed quickly towards Steve before glaring back at Tony. "Aren't you going to sit down? You're being an ass."

"First of all, don't call him an ass! You don't call him anything except Tony." Steve said, leaning across the table. "Second, I'm his new legal guardian. Seeing how you weren't up for the task of taking care of him."

"I think I would rather stand." Tony said, shifting his weight between his good leg and his crutches.

"Fine, whatever. Just what the fuck are you doing here?" Howard sighed angrily. "I'm a bit busy with my lawyer most of the time so I don't get my ass thrown in prison because of you."

Steve started shouting, but Tony wasn't paying attention anymore. This was a mistake, he shouldn't have come. His parents hated him, of course they did. Steve and Clint and everyone would eventually start hating him, there was no point in trying to avoid it. The guard came over and told Steve to stop yelling or he would be thrown out.

"Fine, sorry. I'm sorry, Tony." Steve said, looking between the guard and the teen. "Do what you need to do." Tony glanced back at the guard who returned to his post by the door, frowning. He was already here, might as well ask.

"Actually, Cap. This is kinda personal. Can you wait in the other room?" Tony asked quickly. Steve frowned and shook his head.

"What? Absolutely not." Steve said. "I can't leave you alone with him."

"It's fine. I know you want to protect me, but I don't need to be saved from him anymore." Tony smiled softly. "I need to do this, Steve. Alone." Steve's frown deepened, but he nodded. He stood and walked out of the room.

"Well, he's a pain in the ass. The two of you must be so happy together." Howard said, looking up after he left.

"Enough, Howard." Tony said, frowning at the chairs as he continued to stand. He looked back at his father. "I want you to tell me why."

"Why what?" His dad asked, lifting his eyebrows curiously. "You think you would have figured it out by now that I'm not a mind reader. God, you're stupid." Tony looked down and nodded.

"I just want to know why you hate me." Tony muttered. "You didn't always." Howard paused and sat back in his seat.

"I always beat you, kid." He said.

"Yeah, but you also used to read me stories before bed and let me watch sports with you and you would tell me you loved me. Then you stopped. Why?" Tony gasped out.

"So, I hit you almost every day of your life and you're hung up on why I stopped also being a little nice to you?" Howards asked.

"Was it something I said? Was it something I did?" Tony grabbed onto his crutches as hard as he could, turning his knuckles white. "I don't want to do it again. I have a nice thing going on."

"You're pretty selfish kid. Maybe it wasn't about you." Howard muttered out. "Maybe it was about me. I hated my fucking job, my wife started doing drugs all day, and my start mouth little son never shut up about anything. Look you can't even come visit because you miss me, it's still about you."

Tony sighed and turned away. He wasn't getting his answers here. He ignored the shouts coming from behind him and nodded towards the guard, who opened the door for him. Steve was sitting in the hallway waiting. He jumped up at the sight of Tony.

"How did it go?" He asked. Tony forced a smile and continued down the hall. He would just continue doing everything he was already doing. Tony would do everything he was told without complaint and try not to fight back. Then they wouldn't hate him and if they don't hate him they wouldn't want to hit him. It didn't matter if Howard always did it, it got worse when he made his dad hate him.

They got back to the car. Steve hurried and opened the passenger side door for Tony. "I was hoping you would sit up front with me." He said. Tony stopped, frowning at the seat. It was too thin, too much like a chair. He took a deep breath and climbed in, handing his crutches to Steve.

The tied up feeling overcame him immediately. He felt weighed down and couldn't move. It was happening, he was being tied up. He kept his eyes open this time, waiting for the black bag to cover his head, enveloping him in darkness. Steve put his crutches in the back and climbed in next to him.

"Buckle up." Steve said. Tony looked down at his hands, willing them to move. Steve told him to do something, he had to do it. He took a single shaky breath and grabbed his seatbelt quickly. He pulled it down over him and the darkness came as he heard the click.

"Tony, listen. We've been meaning to talk to you." Steve was talking to him. Tony wanted Steve to notice he wasn't okay, but also didn't. _They will think I'm broken and stupid._ Tony thought. _They won't want me._

"We know you haven't been okay these past few weeks. We think it's been because… they injected you with something. We know you've been lying about it and that's alright, but it's very important that we know." Steve said. Tony couldn't breathe anymore, he couldn't sit on here anymore.

"Stop the car!" Tony gasped out. He felt the car swerve over to the side and stop. He fiddled with the door he couldn't see, desperately unbuckling his seatbelt. When he burst out of the car the bag came off of his head, no his eyes were just closed. He could see again. He crawled quickly over the sidewalk and into the grass.

"Tony! Are you alright?" Steve ran out of the car. He was by his side in seconds. Tony gripped at his chest and stomach, feeling the burning pain and the throbbing in his left arm and right leg. He shook his head.

"I'm scared. I can't sit in that seat." Tony gasped out, hyperventilating.

"Calm down. Can you do that? Is this because of what you were injected with?" Steve asked quickly, putting out a cautious hand and wondering if he could touch him.

"It gave me nightmares. I didn't like it. I'm sorry." Tony shook his head, hunching into himself.

"What did you dream about?"

"You hated me. You were trying to hurt me." Tony cried, curling his hands over his head.

**Reviews are magic! You're wonderful.**


	24. Chapter 24

Tony couldn't calm down. He held himself tight and refused to let Steve near him. He rocked back and forth in the grass, breathing heavily, thinking back to locked in that basement. He shivered at the memory of the pain, being alone and incapable of seeing anything. He wanted Steve to leave. Steve was going to hurt him now, he was becoming too much of a problem. He had to get away. He would run off to Rhodey's and just live there forever. Yeah, that would work out.

"Tony? Are you alright?" That wasn't Steve. Tony looked up quickly from his hands to see Bruce crouching in front of him. He looked around quickly. The whole team had arrived, standing a few feet away and talking quietly with Steve. Tony looked back at Bruce, nodding slowly. Bruce wouldn't hurt him, Bruce never hurt anyone.

"Tony, you've been sitting out here for a half an hour. Do you want to come back to one of the cars so we can go home?" Bruce asked softly. Tony shook his head, he didn't want to go back to the car and that dreadful seat he would be tied down to and then they would hurt him. But Bruce always wanted him to be okay, maybe he would be nice.

"Are you mad?" Tony whispered out, putting his head back in his arms. Bruce gave out a long sigh.

"Yes. I am so very angry, but not at you." Bruce leaned forward gently, speaking in the most calming manner he could manage. "Tony, we aren't mad at you. I'm angry people hurt you. I'm angry that you're hurting and I can't help you. None of us are upset with you."

"You'll hate me." Tony shook his head, rubbing his hands through his hair as he stared straight into the ground. "I always fuck everything up. You'll all hate me." Bruce shoot his head and scooched a tiny bit closer.

"No. We're your family, we love you. We will never hate you and we will never hurt you." Bruce said quietly, putting a hand out for Tony. "I promise." Tony sat still for several minutes. He was afraid, he couldn't get the image out of his mind of Steve standing over him with his hands on his neck. Steve wouldn't do that, Steve was good. Tony knew he didn't hurt anyone who wasn't a villain, not even a fuck up like himself.

"Can we go home now?" Tony whispered, looking up at everyone. Steve looked heartbroken, shoulders slouched as he leaned against his car. Tony wanted to yell at Clint and Natasha, tell them to stop glaring at Steve. _He shouldn't be upset._ Tony thought. _I'm the one who's messed up and broken._ Thor sat next to Steve, leaning close to him and whispering. Bruce perked up and nodded.

"Yeah, we can go home. You want to ride with me, Clint, and Nat?" Tony nodded slowly, leaning onto his right arm to push himself up. He pushed Bruce's hands away as he continued to get up on his own. Once he stood he began limping over to the vehicle that was parked behind Steve's car. He immediately climbed into the backseat and waited. Tony didn't understand, why did the front seat freak him out but not the back? Was it because the front seat was thinner, like a chair? It was certainly thin enough that his hands could get cuffed behind him and he be tied up to it. Tony shivered and the thought and held his arms around him, gripping the sling on his left lightly. He took several shaky breaths, watching everyone talk for a few minutes until they all went to their cars.

"Anything you want to do when you get home?" Clint asked, sliding into the backseat next to Tony. "Watch a movie? Order food? Bruce said one of us could go out and get burgers, if that's what you want."

"When have I not wanted burgers?" Tony sighed, glancing at Bruce taking the seat in front of him and at Natasha who took the driver's seat before he turned to look out the window. "Can I just be alone in my room with my ten whoppers?"

"Ten?" Natasha said, starting the car. "Stocking up for when the big guy makes you eat healthy again?" Tony continued to stare out the window, he didn't feel like answering. He just wanted his burgers, he didn't want to talk. They knew now, they knew he was worried that he would upset them.

"Tony, can you tell us what upset you earlier?" Bruce asked, pointing towards the Burger King for Natasha to pull into. Natasha went inside to get their order while Clint and Bruce sat patiently.

"I didn't like the front seat." Tony muttered out, gripping his sling a bit harder. He loosened his hand once he felt a slight ache wave through his broken arm.

"You didn't like the seat?" Bruce said, confused.

"I, uh. I couldn't move in it." Tony shook his head, shrinking away as he hunched his shoulders. He told Steve about…. his dream. He might as well just say everything he could. "Couldn't breathe sitting there."

Clint and Bruce shared a look, but Tony sighed in relief when they didn't press the matter. He sighed in relief when Natasha came back out with bags of food. She came back into the car and handed Tony one of the giant sacks.

The drive back to SHIELD HQ was quiet, Tony was thankful for the silence. He felt exhausted and just wanted to lock himself away in his room. When they finally arrived, Tony got out of the car quickly. Clint had gotten his crutches out of Steve's car and Tony gave a silent thank you as they were handed to him and he quickly went towards the elevator in the parking garage with his bag of food.

Clint, Bruce, and Natasha stood by the car, waiting. Moments later, Steve and Thor pulled up and parked next to them. Steve sighed sadly and went for the elevator quickly.

"What are we going to do?" Natasha asked, turning away as the elevator doors closed behind Steve. She looked at everyone, each had a different combination of sadness, worry, and anger on their faces.

"I think we should find him a good therapist." Clint said. "He's a stubborn ass, always telling everyone he's fine, but he's not okay and we need to help him." Clint crossed his arms and leaned back against the car frowning.

"That's a good idea. We'll talk to Steve about it when he calms down." Bruce said.

"No." Clint shook his head. "We don't need to talk to Steve."

"Why not, my friend? Is he no longer entitled to know about what shall happen to his ward?" Thor frowned, reaching for the remaining bag of Burger King.

"By all means, tell him. He's team leader. However, he sent Tony into a panic attack and did nothing. I told you guys that locking him in a car and interrogating him about everything that happened would be bad. I told Steve if he failed his little field trip that he demanded I wouldn't be forgiving." Clint glared at all of them and reached for a burger. "Besides, you heard what Cap said. What they gave Tony caused him to have nightmares. He dreamed Steve was hurting him."

"It wasn't his fault. Tony's scared of all of us, Steve was just the only one there when Tony couldn't pretend to be okay anymore." Natasha said, swatting burgers out of Clint and Thor's hands.

"I don't care. Tony didn't want to sit in that seat, but he did sit there. Tony didn't want to talk about what happened just yet, but he did and he broke down on the side of the road. The only good thing Steve did all day was call us because he couldn't handle it." Clint barked bitterly. Thor put a hand out onto the archer's shoulder.

"Calm yourself, Clint. He is our shield brother and our captain. We must trust him." Thor said.

"I trust him with my life, but not with Tony's anymore." Clint said, grabbing another burger from the bag.

"So, what? You're going to raise an emotionally distressed teenager by yourself?" Bruce sighed.

"No, I have Natasha to help me." Clint said, pointing to Nat as she again smacked the burger from his hands.

"Alright, let me see if I got this. You, a super assassin, and your super assassin girlfriend are going to make all the major decisions regarding the life of a kid who has lived through several serious traumas?" Bruce rubbed his face, emotionally exhausted.

"Well, Tony likes you and Thor. He seems to trust you guys so of course you guys get a say. And I'll consult Phil with everything major. I can handle it. I can take care of the kid." Clint said. "I need to. I like the little guy." Bruce sighed, but nodded. Natasha smiled at him as he reached out for another burger. Thor, however, continued to frown.

"You will have to forgive him one day. Our friend, Steve, also cares deeply for Tony and does not wish him harm. It would be an injustice to keep him from him." Thor said. Clint nodded and walked towards the elevator.

They went up to their floor and frowned at how empty it was. Clint walked up to Tony's door, put his ear to it and listened. He heard the quiet shuffling from inside, the kid was moving stuff around, and the tv was on. Clint checked Steve's room, but he heard nothing.

He walked down to the gym, it was where the captain usually went when he was upset. Steve was there, over on the far wall lifting weights and still in the clothes he wore to go see Howard. Clint swallowed angrily and walked over to him.

"Hey, Bruce is calling Coulson down to talk about Tony. Show up if you want." Clint said and turned away. Steve followed immediately. They walked back into the kitchen where a confused Phil Coulson was now sitting.

"Have I been invited to fajita night?" The agent asked, smiling nervously. "Or is it a problem call?"

"Problem." Bruce said sadly.

"Tony had a panic attack today on the drive home from seeing his da- from seeing Howard." Clint said bitterly. He looked up at Steve, waiting for him to continue. He nodded.

"What exactly happened was I asked Tony to sit up from with me and he did. He started to look nervous, I guess I was being obvious I had something serious to talk about. I asked him about what we found in his blood and he closed his eyes and his breathing quickened. I just kept talking until he yelled at me to let him out of the car. Once I pulled over he jumped out and curled up on the sidewalk. He said the chemical gave him nightmares and he dreamed that I hated him and that I… hurt him." Steve frowned deeply. He didn't look at anyone. Coulson's expression grew grim and nodded.

"I think we should talk to Tony and try to get him to agree to see a therapist." Clint said. Coulson nodded and looked between him and Steve.

"I'll send you both of SHIELD approved psychiatrists immediately. Once the three of you have picked, let me know and I'll schedule it." Coulson said, standing.

"Actually, Phil. I think I should take full responsibility for Tony now." Clint said firmly. Steve and Coulson looked over in shock while the rest of the team grew quiet. Coulson opened his mouth to say something when Steve spoke.

"He's right." Steve sighed. "Tony's scared of me. I ignored all the signs of his panic attack because I was so determined to find out what they did to him. I left him alone with his dad."

"You what?" Natasha burst out angrily.

"I know. I'm sorry. Who knows what that bastard said to him." Steve rubbed the heel of his hand against his eyes and nodded to Coulson. "I can't take care of him. I'll sign whatever I need to, but Barton is best suited to do this." Steve said and walked back towards the gym.

Coulson sighed, frowning at Steve as he walked away. "Congratulations, Barton. You got sole guardianship. I'll send up the list as soon as possible. Someone talk to Steve, he seems to be having a rough time." Coulson turned towards the elevator and groaned.

Thor walked off to the gym to talk to Steve and Clint pulled out his phone. He knew one person who could help him convince Tony to seek help. He was calling Rhodey.


	25. Chapter 25

Rhodey arrived in half an hour with Starbucks. He grinned brightly and greeted everyone then had a quiet, rushed talk with Clint to get an understanding of what was wrong. He nodded and walked down the hall while the archer returned to the list that Coulson sent up. Rhodey didn't bother knocking on Tony's door, he just walked right in. He almost laughed seeing his young friend sitting on the floor, surrounded by pieces of scrap metal, wires, and tools.

"Don't you knock?" Tony said, looking up at him and smiling. "Oh, you brought coffee! Bruce is letting me have everything today."

"Yeah, lucky you." Rhodey said, handing Tony his mocha Frappuccino and plopping down in the office chair at the desk. "What are you making? Another homemade taser?"

"I'm trying to make a new energy source for my electromagnet." Tony said, quickly grabbing a science journal. "Some Swedish scientists built an arc reactor. It's a self-sustaining energy source. I got the blueprints online and I am almost certain I can miniaturize, they think it's impossible but it's not, and use it to replace my batteries." Tony said, poking at his chest. He smiled up at Rhodey. Rhodey smiled back, he knew what Tony was doing. He had a very bad day and was looking for a distraction.

"How did you manage to get plans for building a reactor online?" Rhodey laughed.

"Everything is online if you look hard enough. And I was using a SHIELD computer." Tony waved his bare right wrist around. "They took off that bracelet in the hospital, didn't want to mess up any MRIs or anything. Probably just an excuse to take it off of me and still make it seem like I'm in trouble, but hey, I'm a free man now." Tony laughed. "Do you think you can help me sneak into Bruce's lab? There's some equipment down there I still need."

"Why don't you just ask Bruce? I'm sure he'll be more than happy to help." Rhodey said. Tony's smile dropped and turned back to his pile of scrap. He was building a small round casing, preparing his miniature arc reactor.

"I don't need his help." Tony said quietly.

"But it could be fun. He could help with all the physics. You told me all about his science stuff. You two are like science buddies." Rhodey smiled slightly at Tony's sight.

"They sent you in here, didn't they?" Tony frowned, packing away the tools and scraps.

"They're worried about you. Clint told me about what happened and they all just want to help."

"Oh god. I don't need any help." Tony put his head in his hands. "What are they all doing out there?"

"Bruce is making fajitas. Did you know they have a weekly fajita night? That's so normal, I would assume they did a weekly superhero death match thing, but hey I'm invited to fajitas. The fucking Black Widow is watching Phantom of the Opera, I think she was singing along. I'm not sure where Captain America and Thor are but probably someplace magical." Rhodey smiled, waiting for Tony's spirits to lift.

"You're missing one." Tony said, sipping on his Frappuccino.

"Clint is going through a list of psychiatrists. He wanted me to ask you if you were comfortable talking to someone." Rhodey said slowly and calmly. Tony groaned, running his hands through his hair.

"No, I don't need a shrink! I'm fine." Tony barked out.

"Alright, but everyone can see that you are clearly not okay. We all want you to get better. The way I see it you can either talk to a nice stranger who you will only have to see once every few weeks about you problems, or us." Rhodey said. He put his feet up onto Tony's empty desk. They sat in silence for several minutes as Tony contemplated his options.

"You're so manipulative." Tony chuckled after a while.

"Only because I love you. You're like an annoying little brother." Rhodey smiled.

"Can't I take secret option number three and just be left alone?" Tony said, smiling weakly up at his friend.

"No. We want you to be happy, but you're not doing good being left alone. You have to talk about this."

"Fine. I'll go to therapy. But I have conditions." Tony grinned wickedly.

"Want to go out there and discuss it with them yourself?" Rhodey asked. Tony sighed, taking another big gulp of his coffee before nodding. He handed his drink up to Rhodey and grabbed his crutches, which were lying next to him. Rhodey followed slowly behind his friend as they went into the living room. Tony plopped himself down on the couch next to Clint, who perked up as the two entered the room.

"I'll do it, but I have conditions." Tony said to his guardian. Clint nodded, smiling. "I want to be allowed fast food again." Tony laughed at Bruce's long groan. He turned to see the doctor standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

"How about on Fridays? When we have Disney nights?" Bruce said.

"You guys have Disney nights?" Rhodey gasped out. "Like the cartoons? Shouldn't you guys be busy traveling between dimensions and fighting alien time travelers?"

"Doesn't happen as often as you think." Natasha shrugged. Rhodey laughed and Clint brought the list over to Tony.

"I've narrowed it down to people who specialize in trauma and helping young people. Thank you for doing this. We'll schedule your first appointment for whenever you think you'd be ready." Clint said, he felt a wave of stress as he looked down at the teenager. He took sole guardianship, what the fuck was he thinking? He doesn't know how to raise a kid. Tony pushed the paper away and shrugged.

"You pick a guy, I trust you. Let's just do it next week so we can get the first one over with. Friday, so we can stop for Five Guys on the drive home and watch movies." Tony said quickly. Clint pulled him into a hug, wrapping his arms around the boy and holding loose enough for Tony to escape if he wanted. To paused, then lifted his arms to pat Clint's back and he leaned slightly into the hug.

"Thank you for doing this, Tony. This will be good for you, for all of us." Clint said, pulling away with a smile.

"Yeah, sure. Not a problem." Tony muttered. "Just get my friend here to stop thinking you guys are the greatest people to walk the Earth so he'll stop being surprised when you do something normal."

OOOOOO

Thor stood around and waited. He watched Steve beat several punching bags before approaching. Thor moved to hold the bag, hoping to stop this one from flying across the room. Steve sighed when he saw him.

"It is not your fault, my friend. You should not feel so troubled." Thor said. Steve stopped punching, resting his head against the bag and sighed.

"It is my fault. Tony didn't want to talk but I pushed him. I trapped him in the car and I pushed him." Steve said slowly.

"There is more to it. Our young one has been growing more distressed with every passing day. It was only by mere circumstance that he could no longer take the stress while in your presence." Thor said.

"It was my job to help him avoid stress. I left him in there with that man, who probably said terrible things to him. I had him sit up front with me and ignored the fact that it visibly made him uncomfortable. He probably didn't want to be so close to me, thinking I was going to hurt him or something." Steve walked over to the wall and sat down on the floor.

"Nay. Tony has been avoiding chairs for weeks. I have seen it." Thor said. Steve looked up quickly, confused. "If he does not sit on our couch he sits on the ground. I thought it strange, but didn't think it was an issue."

"And the front seat is thin like a chair, while the backseat is wide like the couch. You think that's what caused him to panic? Not me?" Steve frowned. "That's ridiculous."

"Under different circumstances we have all become afraid of strange things. Talk with him. I know he trusts you." Thor smiled.

"Then it's still my fault because I made him sit there. I ignored how he panicked as he sat there." Steve said.

"You could not have noticed such small details nor did you think there was any cause for concern."

"Do you think the others trust me to talk to him? I need to apologize." Steve sighed.

"We all trust you with our lives. Bruce understands it was a misunderstanding, he knows you did not mean harm. The lady Natasha respects you and your decisions, she is just worried. Our friend Clint has become very protective of the child these past weeks, it is a good thing. However, it has clouded his judgment and he is rather upset over what happened. You may need to talk to him as well. Tony, he thinks no ill of you. You must speak with them." Thor gave a small smile, squeezing Steve's shoulder reassuringly.

"Yeah. You're right. I'll do that." Steve said, inhaling deeply and smiling. "What about you? How do you feel about all this?"

"Tony is a strong one. He survived his life without us to this point. I fear it is all catching up to him now." Thor said, frowning deeply.

"He'll be okay. Barton's in charge now and that man never gives up on things he cares about." Steve said, standing up. "Come on. Let's go talk to them."


	26. Chapter 26

Steve walked slowly out into the living room with Thor following behind him. He stopped once he saw Tony and Rhodey sitting around watching some tv show about monsters with some of the team with the smell of Bruce's fajitas in the air. Thor walked into the room first, loudly alerting everyone to his presence. He laughed as the two teens jumped at the noise. Tony looked back, eyes widening when he saw Steve. The man sighed, how could he not think the kid was scared of him? Of course he was.

"Hey, it's both members of the Buff Blonde Brigade! Steve, come watch Supernatural with us. You'll like Lucifer, he's great." Tony said, smiling brightly at the two. Steve smiled, of course Satan would be cool in the future.

"You make it sound like a bad show, Tony." Rhodey said quickly. "Captain Rogers, hello again. It's just about two brothers saving the world from monsters and demons. Tony just thinks Lucifer is funny."

Steve shrugged and walked over, moving for the chair next to the one Thor had taken. Tony made a noise and waved him over to the couch, patting the spot next to him. He stopped for a moment, confused. Why would Tony want him to sit next to him? He moved to the spot next to the teenager, leaving plenty enough space so as to appear as nonthreatening as possible.

"I wanted to apologize." Tony said, leaning closer to him. "I was freaked out and I think I upset you. My bad."

"What? No. You didn't do anything wrong. You never did anything to apologize for." Steve whispered quickly, attempting not to alert Natasha or Thor as they continued to watch the show. Rhodey was sitting close enough to hear, but appeared not to be listening intently. "It was my fault, I put you in a situation that made you uncomfortable, I came off as threatening, and I'm sorry." Tony frowned and shook his head.

"No no. It was all my own shit. I was freaked out my something completely unrelated to you. I just needed to get away and left alone for a bit, out of the car." Tony said, lightly punching Steve in the shoulder.

"But I put you in there in the first place, bombarded you with questions you weren't ready to answer. And you dreamed that I hurt you, not anyone else." Steve said. That was the issue, from what little  
>Tony rambled on about when he went into his panic attack Steve knew that the drug caused nightmares and Tony's was about Steve hurting him.<p>

"I don't think it was about you particularly, you just showed up." Tony mumbled. "Can we talk about the show now? Look at the car! It's beautiful." Tony said, pointing to the black car as rock music burst from the tv.

"It's very nice." Steve said, glancing to the tv and back to Tony. "You sure you don't want to talk. You don't have to, but it might help to talk to _someone_." Tony looked around carefully, avoiding eyes.

"I will. Clint's making me a therapy appointment. I'll talk then and then have burgers later. I promised, okay? I just don't want to talk right now." Tony said. Steve nodded.

"That's good. Therapists are smart people, probably not compared to you but they are to me." Steve smiled as Tony chuckled at him. Clint walked in then, looking at everyone. He nodded at Steve before taking his place by Natasha.

"Are you guys okay?" Tony asked, leaning over again. "I don't think he's happy with you."

"He's not. My fault, I made a mistake. I'll talk to him later." Steve said, smiling slightly as the teen scooted closer to him. "Let's just watch your devil show right now."

OOOOOO

The Friday of Tony's first appointment came quickly. He knew Clint had gone over the basics of his issues with Dr. Moreno over the phone, but she was going to make him talk. Of course he was going to have to talk, the dreaded feelings talk with a complete stranger. He dressed down in his Black Sabbath t-shirt and a pair of jeans, no need to impress a stranger who he would have to spend an hour with spilling his thoughts and feelings to.

It had been over a month since the incident, which was all he would ever call it, with Hammer and Stane. He could limp around without his crutches, they were still laying around in case the pain gave him any trouble. His stomach didn't hurt much anymore, but he still had a dull ache in his chest where the electromagnet pressed through his ribs. His arm was healing but he had a visible scar from where Stane had torn his stitches and the doctors had to go in again and reset it. Tony smiled as he walked out into the living room, he was almost back to normal.

Clint smiled up at him when he entered. "Ready to go?" Tony took a quick look around the room, Thor and Steve were failing at video games with Natasha and Bruce betting on who will kill who first at GTA.

"We could just stay in and rob convenience stores." Tony said. He gave a weak smile when Clint shook his head.

"If we stay in to play video games then you don't get fast food. Don't worry, it'll be fine. Say what you can and we'll leave if you want." Clint said. Tony sighed, nodding and followed Clint to the elevator.

Tony laughed at Clint's car, it was a piece of junk. He climbed into the backseat, surprised it didn't fall apart when he opened the door. Clint slid Tony's crutches in at his feet in case Tony needed them later and slid into the driver's seat. The drive to Dr. Moreno's office was short, she was SHIELD psychiatrist so she kept her offices close to base. Tony sat quietly, ignoring Clint's every attempt at small talk.

Tony hated the waiting room. Clint parked himself in a seat next to the magazine rack and the free coffee, smiled reassuringly as Tony just stood next to him. They waited for several minutes, Clint complimenting the coffee with Tony grumbling about how ugly the paint color was before he was called in. Tony looked desperately at his guardian.

"Do you want me to go in with you?" Clint asked softly. Tony hesitated before shaking his head limping slowly into the office. If he ended up talking at all it wouldn't be with Clint around.

His frown deepened when he entered the office. His doctor smiled brightly at him as she ushered him into the room, but there were only several chairs. Did they not do the couches anymore? He stopped in front of the chairs, shifting his weight onto his good leg.

"Have a seat, Tony. Make yourself at home." Dr. Moreno said, sitting down across from him. Tony looked desperately at her before pushing the chairs back and sitting on the floor. After a brief moment, she moved to sit on the floor next to him. "Well, this is comfortable. Feels more friendly."

"Yeah." Tony nodded quickly.

"Now, this is a safe environment, Tony. Everything you say to me will only be mentioned to your guardian, Mr. Barton. That was the agreement that was signed by the two of you since you preferred to not have him in the room. Either than that, it's just between you and me." Dr. Moreno smiled softly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Twix bar, handing it to Tony. "He said you had a fixation on junk food. Let's keep this between us." Tony bit into the candy bar savagely, it was the greatest thing he had ever eaten since Bruce put him on his all healthy diet. "Where would you like to start?"

"I don't know. You're the doctor." Tony shrugged, eating mouthfuls of his candy bar. This woman was buying his affections with chocolate, and by god he was going to let her.

"How about we start with why we're hanging out on the floor. The chairs here in my office are very comfortable, picked them out myself." Tony looked up at her, crinkling the candy bar wrapper and putting it in his pocket. He would talk, if not she would tell Clint that he didn't and then no burgers. Besides, he didn't know her. That was supposed to make it easier than talking to everyone back at home.

"I don't like chairs." Tony said.

"Can you tell me why?"

"They remind me." Tony said. He shook his head, she wouldn't know what it reminded him of. He had to talk more. "It reminds me of the chair H-…..Hammer had. The one in his basement." That should be enough. He also said Hammer's name, which was a win in his book. He wasn't going to mention Stane. Not today. Besides, she seemed to understand, she was nodding.

"How do you feel when you sit in a chair?" Dr. Moreno asked. Tony looked back at the chairs pushed behind him, frowning. His doctor stood up and pushed her chair away into a corner, doing the same with the ones behind Tony. She smiled as she came back and sat down in front of him. "Don't worry. You don't have to sit in it."

"I feel- I feel scared. I can't move, like my arms are tied down again, like they were back then. Then I can't keep my eyes open, it gets dark like the bag is going back over my head. I can breathe when it happens. Sometimes it hurts." Tony said slowly, rubbing absently at his arm. "I just don't like chairs. Let's talk about something else."

"Alright. Do you have anything in mind?" Dr. Moreno smiled, scribbling something down on her notebook in front of her.

"I get fast food later. They're trying to get me on a healthier diet, but I finally get to return to my beloved fast food." Tony said quickly, thinking about what will be the highlight of his day.

"Good old-fashioned American Hamburgers, what's not to like?" She smiled brightly. "Why so much love for it?" Tony shrugged.

"I don't know. It's delicious. It's cheap. It's familiar and comfortable. I used to have it every day before all of this SHIELD crap went down." Tony said. "Rhodey, he's my best friend, he used to joke that my liver would shut down at thirty the way I ate."

"Your parents didn't have a problem with your eating habits?" Tony froze up at her question. He muttered unintelligibly for several minutes, while she smiled softly at him. Was he going to talk about his parents with her? He didn't even tell Rhodey until after everything was over and he told Rhodey everything. The Avengers didn't even bring it up because he didn't want to talk about it. The closest they ever got to talking about it was Tony asking to see his dad.

"They didn't care if I ate. They were too busy paying bills and buying… other stuff." Tony said. "I bought my own food." Dr. Moreno nodded, writing something down again. "Can I leave now?"

"Alright, no problem. Let me just get something for you." She walked over to her filing cabinet, pulling out a packet and walking over to him. "Now, I would very much like to talk with you again."

"Will there be more candy?" Tony said, smiling weakly.

"Of course."

"Alright. I just… feel done today." Tony sighed.

"That's just fine. I want you to feel comfortable. If you have anything more to say next week, you can say it. If not we'll just eat candy." Dr. Moreno said, handing him the packet. "This is a bunch of papers on how to cope with flashbacks. It's a symptom of PTSD. In a flashback, a person may feel or act as though a traumatic event is happening again. By doing what it says in here, it can help ground you in the present. Alright?"

"So if I start feeling tied up again, it will remind me that I'm not?" Tony asked softly, flipping through the papers.

"Exactly. Can you send Mr. Barton in?" Tony nodded, walking out into the waiting room and laughing at seeing the archer reading a bridal magazine and drinking directly from the coffee pot.

"Hey, Clint. She wants to talk to you." Clint jumped up quickly, patted Tony on the shoulder with a smile and entered the office.

"Hi, Doctor." Clint said quickly, watching the woman begin to move her chairs back into place. Clint rushed in to help.

"Hello, Mr. Barton. Thank you." She said. "Now, I want to schedule another appointment for Tony for next Friday. He said it was alright."

"He did?" Clint smiled. This was great news, Tony was actively seeking help.

"Yes. Now, about our session. Tony is having flashbacks, they seem to be triggered by chairs." Dr. Moreno said, sitting down.

"Chairs?"

"Yes, they remind him of the chair he was bound to during his kidnapping. Sitting in one can trigger great emotional distress for him and bring up the memories. I suggest you help him avoid them and make them as invisible as possible." Clint nodded as she continued. "Given the nature of his flashbacks and his situation, we will be going on the assumption that it is PTSD for now. I want him here once a week."

"Of course. He'll be here." Clint said quickly.

"He also appears to have some serious emotions regarding his birth family. He didn't appear happy to talk about them and what he told me didn't seem encouraging." Dr. Moreno frowned, looking down at her notes.

"What did he say?" Clint intertwined his fingers, squeezing tightly to resist the urge to hit something.

"His attachment to fast food seems to be from his parents not feeding him. He would just eat food he bought himself, already prepared. This could cause issues in the future, I suggest you try to keep him eating as healthy as possible. If burgers seem to soothe him in a stressful situation, let him have one then." She pulled out a folder and frowned at it. "Is what you told me about Tony's relationship with his parents true?" Clint nodded slowly. Dr. Moreno stood quickly and sifted through her files, returning with two stacks of papers.

"Alright, I'm giving you several articles on how to help an abused child. It is important not to interrogate them on their situation, let them tell you what happened when they're ready. Be sure to tell him he has don't nothing wrong. As often as you can. I'm also giving you something to teach you on how to recognize the signs of a flashback and help someone in one." Clint reached forward and grabbed the papers quickly, holding them close. "Now, I want to put him on some medications to hel-"

"No." Clint said quickly. Dr. Moreno sat back in her chair, confused. "Sorry. Tony has an issue with drugs. It's a thing with his mom, she was a drug addict and he doesn't want to end up like….that." She nodded at his words.

"Alright, just have him back next Friday." Clint nodded and stood. He walked back out to the waiting room to see Tony sitting on the floor, reading the same bridal magazine.

"Come on, kid. Let's go get burgers."


	27. Chapter 27

"Oh, hey. I forgot to give this to you." Clint said as they piled back into the car. He pulled out a card with the SHIELD logo on it and handed it to Tony. "Coulson set you up with an account your first week. He meant to give it to you on that Monday but you didn't show up and then we all got a bit busy so here you go." Tony took the card and smiled.

"I have money?" Tony asked.

"Yeah. Nat had him set it up. Since it's just been adding money every week and no one's been spending it, you're probably sitting on quite a bit." Clint said, putting his bundle of papers in the glove department and starting the car. "You're buying dinner for everyone. You can have one burger and a medium fry." Tony let out a groan and he kicked the back of Clint's seat.

Once they finally returned to SHIELD HQ, bags of food and bundles of papers in hand, Natasha and Bruce had taken over the video games with Thor watching. Tony limped in quickly, putting the bags of food down and plopping on the couch in between Natasha and Bruce. Clint put away his packets, he would share them with the team later. Now was Disney Night.

"Where's Steve?" Clint asked.

"Coulson had something urgent to discuss with him." Bruce said, jerking his controller to the side while he moved his character. Clint nodded.

"What movie are we watching first?" He asked.

"Pirates of the Caribbean, it counts as Disney and Thor hasn't seen it." Natasha said, killing Bruce's character with a smile and getting up to turn off the game.

"How did it go?" Bruce asked, looking up at Clint and then down at Tony. The boy shrugged and then reached for the food, taking out his fries.

"I think it went well. Tony talked to her, he remained calm throughout the whole thing, and he stayed for half the time. He did really well." Clint smiled as Tony shrugged again.

"That's great. I'm proud of you. Are you going back?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, she seemed nice enough." Tony said. She was nice. She let him sit on the floor, even sat with him. Of course, she asked questions, but didn't make it seem like it was bad that he was so fucked up he was scared of chairs. It was nice to hang out with someone who didn't act like your stupid fear was that stupid. Even though she was being paid to be his friend.

Tony looked around the living room. Clint had pushed the extra chairs away into the corner and sat close to Natasha on one, whispering to each other as the movie started. Thor sat in another chair on the other side of him. He and Bruce just sat on the couch. He wondered if Steve really did have to meet with Coulson. They had been getting along the past few days, but maybe he hadn't forgiven him from panicking that day and having that horrible nightmare about him. Was he avoiding him? Thinking they would have to talk after he got back?

Tony curled his legs up to his chest and leaned lightly into Bruce.

OOOOOO

"What's the problem Coulson?" Steve asked. He had rushed up as soon as he had gotten a text from the agent. He frowned at Maria Hill, who was standing next to Phil. If she was here, it was serious.

"There's been a problem with the Hammer case." Coulson said firmly. Steve perked up immediately.

"When all the files from Hammer Industries were transferred to SHIELD's databases a half the data was erased. Important information, such as what kind of weapons they were building under the radar and we have the names of only a few groups they were selling to." Agent Hill said.

"How did it get erased?" Steve furrowed his eyebrows, looking between the two agents.

"We don't know." Coulson said, turning to Hill with sharp eyes.

"We suspect there's a mole." She said. "We want to interview Tony again. It was either him, or someone in SHIELD." Steve froze, looking quickly at Coulson, who looked angrily at the wall.

"No. They tor- they _hurt_ him. Tony wouldn't cover up more of their secrets. He didn't even cover up their secrets the first time they asked." Steve said sharply. "Besides, he's a kid. And what happened messed him up. He's not a spy."

"They can start young. You should ask Romanov how old she was when she started." Hill said quickly. "We're not saying what happened didn't affect him. We just want to know if he did anything else for Hammer." Steve let out a long sigh.

"You're going to have to talk to Clint. And you'll probably have to kill him before you get to interrogate Tony." Steve said looking up to the clock. They should be back by now, he was going to miss Disney night. "Is that all?"

"Sadly, it isn't." Coulson said, rubbing his face. "The Ten Rings, a terrorist group that was supplied by Obadiah Stane through Hammer Industries has become more aggressive recently. Towards SHIELD and its international bases."

"They're probably bitter we took out their weapons supplier. How they're still getting them, we don't know." Maria said quickly.

"Do you think they'll attack here?" Steve asked, taking a commanding tone to his voice.

"We don't know. It's too soon to mobilize a strike team. We have agents undercover in the organization giving us Intel on the leadership, locations, yet so far nothing useful to bring the whole thing down. We believe the leader to be a man known as the Mandarin." Coulson said, looking grim. "We have all of our locations on high alert. If we do gain anything useful, I want the Avengers ready."

"Yes, sir." Steve said. Looking between Coulson and Hill. After several long seconds, he spoke again. "If the bases are being targeted, would it be appropriate to move Tony off base?"

"I get, Steve, he's like the family's little baby now, but he is subject to a SHIELD investigation. Again. I know you want to keep him safe, but he is safe here." Agent Hill said firmly, giving a light nod to the men in the room. "This is one of the most secure buildings in the city. We have to keep an eye on him and keep him safe, this is the best place to do it."

"I'll have to disagree with you there." Coulson said. "SHIELD was started on one principal, protection. If our facility is in danger, then it is our duty to move any children on the premises to a safer location."

"And what if he was responsible for the missing information? He'll run off the first chance he gets once he knows he's under investigation." Maria said, crossing her arms.

"Clint Barton is one of the greatest agents we have. Natasha Romanov is another. We'll send them with him." Coulson said, smiling at Steve. "He won't get far if he tries to run and we still have three perfectly capable Avengers here in case of an attack and the other two a quick drive away." Agent Hill sighed, but nodded.

"Alright. Fine, it makes sense." She said, smiling slightly at the two. "Protect your damn kid, you two."


	28. Chapter 28

**Author Note - Telling you guys I love this chapter. One of my favorites. Also, I'm very sick today. So while I'm miserable please leave reviews to help me feel better.**

"Can you describe it to me?" Natasha asked.

"I don't see how it's supposed to help anything." Tony grumbled, picking at the fabric of the couch.

"It's a grounding technique. You're supposed to practice it so it'll be easier for if you need it." Natasha smiled. "Now describe the color, shape, and texture of something in this room." Tony groaned loudly. Clint had told them all last night about what his therapist had said after Tony went to sleep when they were done watching all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Apparently, they stayed up half the night going over the information Dr. Moreno gave Clint and getting rid of most of the chairs in exchange for several loveseats. Tony liked it, he felt safer in the living room now and it was sweet how they all went to so much trouble in one night, but he knew he was bothering them.

"Fine. The couch, it's a light blue. I don't know what this is, suede maybe. It's shaped like a couch." Tony said, shrugging his shoulders and sighing. Honestly, he was fine. He may get a little scared at times, but they didn't need to go to all this trouble.

"Alright, we'll work on that one again later." Natasha smiled. "Tell me what you hear."

"Very demanding. Um, I hear Bruce flipping the pages of his book." Tony said, turning towards the doctor, who was sitting in the loveseat across from them. Bruce lifted his head at the mention of his name and smiled. Tony nodded back. "Clint's in his room with the door open, shooting arrows into the wall again."

"Are they pleasant sounds?" Natasha asked, crossing her legs.

"Well, yeah." Tony said. It meant that Bruce and Clint were both doing something they enjoyed and that they were close by. Of course they were pleasant sounds. Tony stopped his train of thought to look up at Steve walking in. "Hey, you missed movie night."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I had important business to discuss with Coulson." Steve said, smiling down at Tony. "They told me about how your day went when I got back. I'm proud of you." Steve squeezed Tony's shoulder reassuringly. Tony shrugged and turned back to Natasha.

"It was fine. She seemed nice." Tony said, nodding to Natasha. "Nat's just helping me practice my grounding." Natasha smiled.

"You just called me 'Nat'. Only Clint ever calls me that." She said.

"Oh, is that not okay? I'm sorry." Tony said quickly.

"It's fine. I like it." Natasha said quickly. She nodded slowly, turning back to the papers with a smile. Steve felt relieved, Tony and Natasha were bonding. That meant he felt safe here, at least a little bit.

"Hey, Natasha. I need to speak to you and Barton for a minute. Alone." Steve said. Everyone in the room looked up at him, confused. "It's important." Steve put on his commanding voice, Natasha nodded quickly. She stood, kissing Tony on the forehead and looked over to Bruce.

"I'll make sure he doesn't break anything." Bruce said, putting his book down and moving towards the couch. Tony watched as Steve and Natasha walked down to Clint's room.

"That was weird." Tony said.

"Probably some super spy stuff that has to do with SHIELD and saving the world or political espionage. Who knows anymore?" Bruce said, picking up the instructions on how to help Tony deal with a flashback. Tony plucked them from his hands and plopped the papers onto the table.

"I'm done for today." Tony said, smiling up at Bruce. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask for your help with something."

"Alright, sure." Bruce said. Tony began walking towards his room, his smile widening with each step.

"I've been working on something to become a permanent replacement energy source for my electromagnet and I wanted you to take a look at it." Tony walked into his room, leaving the door open for Bruce to follow behind. He reached under his bed to grab his blueprints from box of spare parts. He handed the plans over to Bruce, who was waiting patiently. "I want to build a miniature Arc Reactor."  
>"You want to build a cold fusion reactor and put it in your chest?" Bruce said slowly, looking down at the blueprints.<p>

"Well, yes." Tony said.

"Makes sense, the arc reactor generates electricity directly, rather than by producing heat so there will be no further damage to your chest." Bruce looked through the articles about the large arc reactor in Sweden and compared it to the miniature one Tony planned to build. "Need to utilize the beta decay of Pd-107 ions as an electron source for the electron capture of Pd-103, thereby producing an electric circuit between two different radioactive isotopes."

"Yeah, but Pd-103 is much more radioactive than Pd-107 so there would need to be way more of the heavier isotope to compensate for the disparity in decay rates." Tony said, smiling.

"This is excellent, based on your designs the radioactive decay of Pd-103 can be started, stopped, and throttled by the device simply by controlling the ionization and circulation of the Pd-103." Bruce said, looking up from Tony's blueprints.

"I do not know what you are saying." Thor said, appearing in the doorway. "Clint and the lady Natasha seem to be having a serious discussion with the Captain and you two are talking about what I cannot understand."

"Tony's just being brilliant." Bruce said, waving the god into the room. He looked back over at Tony and then down at the box of scraps the plans were in. "Were you just going to build it yourself?"

"No, I was going to ask you to help and to let me use your lab. That was just me trying to take my mind off of things." Tony shrugged. Bruce nodded.

"Well, come on everyone. We're going down to the lab."

OOOOOO

"What is it?" Clint asked as Natasha and Steve came into his room, closing the door behind them. He lowered his bow and frowned at the two, glaring at Steve for a moment. "Is it serious or not serious?"

"Serious." Steve said. Clint sat down on his bed, Natasha moved to stand next to him. "Half of the vital info we gained on Hammer's activities are completely gone. They suspect it was Tony. They want to interrogate him."

"Did you tell them to fuck off?" Clint said sharply.

"In different words." Steve said. "I don't think they'll back down though."

"They're just gonna scare him and make him feel like he did something wrong. That won't be good for him. Besides, Tony wouldn't work with those bastards in a million years." Clint gripped his bow tighter.

"The only reason we know Tony is because he was working for them. He did the exact opposite of what they wanted and they hurt him." Natasha said calmly. "He's been nothing but cooperative about catching Hammer and Stane since the day he arrived."

"They didn't see that, however." Steve said bitterly. "I don't know what we can do." Natasha interlocked her fingers, twirling her thumbs while Clint rubbed smudges off of his bow.

"I guess we'll just be here for him." Clint sighed.

"There is another thing." Steve said, frowning as Clint groaned loudly. "SHIELD is under threat of attack from the Ten Rings. This base is a potential target." The two assassins looked at each other quickly before turning back to Steve.

"And they want us to go out and take out the baddies?" Clint asked.

"It's too early. We don't know where the leaders are so send out a strike force now wouldn't be productive. We have to wait." Steve said, taking note of the growing unease on their faces. "Coulson said, that in case of an attack it might not be safe here at base. He wants the two of you to move to a safe house somewhere in the city with Tony."

"That would be best. He might not like it though." Natasha said quickly. "He rather likes you guys."

"We'll have time to explain it to him. You two have a few days until the safe house is prepared to get ready and pack up." Steve said, turning to the door. "Be careful, you guys. Take care of him."

Natasha and Clint continued to wait in the room after Steve left. Tony was once again suspected of compromising SHIELD security, only this time everyone knew he didn't do it. On top of that they had to leave their home and have limited contact with the team.

"It'll just be you, me, and the kid." Clint said. "Kinda like one of those normal families." Natasha let out a short laugh.

"Yeah, normal. There's me, ex-KGB who's killed more people than I can count. You, former carnie who hangs out with superheroes and shoots arrows at giant monsters. And our beautiful boy, a genius with criminal tendencies of breaking into the computer networks of government agencies." Natasha said, smiling. After a few seconds, she nodded and elbowed Clint. "We'd be the greatest family. Where do I get those 'My kid is an Honor Student' bumper stickers?"

"We could do it, you know. Be an actual family." Clint said, nodding quickly. "When this all blows over."

"What? Like take Tony to soccer practice and get you a 'world's best dad' coffee mug?" Natasha asked.

"No, like once this all settles down and Tony starts to feel better, you and I could get married. And since I'm his legal guardian he would be like our kid. We could go on college visits with him and teach him to defend himself and ground him for sneaking out and help him make normal not spy related career plans and we'll protect him." Clint said quickly, smiling at Natasha. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Was this your plan all along? Talk me into marrying you so we could raise a genius kid together?" Natasha said, elbowing Clint in the ribs.

"Is that a yes? But think about it, he'll have the greatest assortment of super uncles who already love him. We could officially adopt him, maybe. It'll be great." Clint said, falling back into his bed.

"Alright. I'll marry you, idiot. You have to ask Tony about all that other crap." Natasha said, laying back next to him.


	29. Chapter 29

It was finished. Honestly, it was probably one of the most beautiful things Tony had ever seen. He and Bruce just sat there silently, taking in the fruit of their labor. They had been working almost nonstop, Bruce insisted breaks for snacks and such, for ten hours and here it was. The miniaturized Arc Reactor, glowing brightly as it was scanned for any potential threats. Thor chuckled lightly watching the faces of the others fill in awe.

"We should probably ask Clint and Coulson before we put it in." Bruce said once the scan was complete. The reactor was completely stable, safe.

"Fuck that." Tony said, picking up the device. It was quickly snatched from his hands.

"First, watch your language. Second, Clint is in charge of you and Coulson is in charge of all of us." Bruce said in a firm voice, holding the Arc gingerly. "No putting cold fusion generators in your chest without permission. I'll go call them and explain everything." Bruce walked into his office, which was just through a door connecting to his lab. Tony sighed loudly, looking over at Thor and glancing down Mjolnir.

"So you can lightning stuff with your hammer?" Tony asked, Thor grinned and picked up his hammer. Tony ran over to the fridge that was in the corner, coming back quickly with a large watermelon. "Fry it." Tony said, looking up at the god. He nearly skipped with glee when Thor waved him back.

The bolt of lightning that shot from Mjolnir exploded the fruit, sending chunks of it in every direction. Tony burst out laughing as he was sprayed with smashed, burnt watermelon. "Let's do the pineapple next!" Tony shouted, running back to the fridge to get more fruit, which he hated, to blow up.

They continued this for half an hour, Bruce liked fresh produce apparently. The doctor came out to his lab covered in the remains of charred vegetables and bits of fruit on fire with Thor thrusting his hands in the air yelling, "ANOTHER!" and Tony laughing hysterically. Bruce sighed at the mess, walking into his lab trying not to slip on anything. Thor and Tony both stopped upon seeing him.

"My friend, it was the young one's idea. I meant only to keep him occupied." Thor said quickly.

"Traitor." Tony groaned. Then he turned to Bruce expectantly.

"Well, first you two are going to clean this mess up." Bruce said, looking around. "After explaining what the reactor was in great detail to Clint and Coulson, they both agreed to let you have it. Now clean." Tony cheered as he searched for the mops.

OOOOOO

The rest of the team thought the arc reactor was amazing. Of course it was amazing, Tony Stark designed it himself. They spent several minutes marveling at the light glow it produced from his chest and how brilliant it was while Bruce finished dinner, bringing plates out into the living room. Tony was thrilled when Coulson decided to join them.

"Hey, Agent! Here for Bruce's dinner? He's making quinoa and black beans. If you go into the kitchen he'll explain to you how wonderful his time in South America was." Tony said, smiling up at Coulson.

"I've heard that story before." Coulson said, sitting down and smiling briefly at Bruce. He looked over to Clint, who nodded.

"Hey, Tony. In a few days you, me, and Nat are going to go stay somewhere else in the city." Clint said calmly. Tony frowned, looking between Coulson, Clint, and Natasha. Steve sighed beside him and Thor looked up confused.

"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Tony asked quietly. He looked down, away from the gaze of everyone else.

"No, Tony you didn't." Coulson said. "There's an issue with SHIELD and it's been decided that it would be best for your safety to move you to another location."

"What issue?" Tony asked.

"I'm sorry. It's classified." Coulson said. Tony's frown deepened, but he nodded. He stood and walked down the hall to his bedroom quickly. The click of the lock echoed throughout the floor. Steve leaned back Clint groaned, running his hands through his hair. Bruce picked up Tony's untouched plate and went to knock on his door. Returning a moment later, leaving the food outside the door.

"I do not think he is pleased with the news of leaving." Thor said.

"No, he thinks he did something wrong, so we're making him leave. That thought will probably only be enforced when Hill interrogates him tomorrow." Coulson said, sighing dejectedly.

"That's still not going to happen." Clint said bitterly.

"It's either let Maria Hill decide he's innocent or you get arrested for obstructing a high level investigation and she talks to him anyway." Coulson said.

"It will not do him well if you are imprisoned." Thor said. Natasha reached out, taking Clint's hand as he grumbled angrily.

"Once it's over, we'll talk to him. Do everything we can to make him feel better before you guys leave." Bruce said. "We'll have to tell him that moving is about his safety."

"We need to go talk to him." Steve said. He stood up quickly and started for the hallway. Clint caught up to him, stopping him with a gently hand on the shoulder.

"No. He wants to be alone, just let him figure stuff out right now." Clint said.

"Yeah, but he might be figuring out the wrong stuff. We need to explain it to him, tell him it's not his fault." Steve said quickly, pushing off Clint's hand as he continued towards the hall.

"We can explain everything later. Right now, he wants to be by himself and maybe we should let him have what he wants." Clint said, moving in front of Steve and pushing him back. "Leave him alone."

"Why?" Steve asked angrily. "If we explain everything to him he won't have to worry anymore! Your plan is to just wait around as he gets worse. You shouldn't have him, you don't know what you're doing?"

"And you do? I think he might be a bit upset right now about moving and the last time you pushed him to talk when he was upset you sent him into a panic attack." Clint barked out. Neither of them had noticed how close they were standing until Thor was pulling them apart.

"My brothers, fighting will not do young Tony any good." Thor said, holding them both at arm's length apart with a firm hand. "You both only want the best for the young one. The two of you are who he trusts most, if he sees you fighting it would devastate him." They nodded slowly. Steve walked back to the couch, rubbing his face angrily. Clint moved to sit down in front of the hallway, guarding it.

"Clint, apologize to Steve." Natasha yelled out from her seat. Clint grumbled angrily, receiving a cold glare from Natasha.

"Fine, just don't kill me in my sleep." Clint sighed. "Steve, buddy. I'm sorry. I said a few things that were a bit harsh. I know you're just trying to look out for him." Steve looked up and nodded.

"I'm sorry too. You deserve Tony, you've taken care of him from the start. He loves you." Steve said.

"Okay, now hug it out." Bruce said, patting Steve's back. Clint sighed and stood up. Steve jumped up with a smile, walking quickly over to the other man.

"I really am sorry. You're a good man and I know you just want to help Tony." Clint said, stepping into the embrace. "It's just… there is so much going on and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do. I got angry. None of this is your fault." Steve nodded.

"Yeah, I'll listen to you from now on. You've done everything right by Tony so far, you're in charge of him. If you think he wouldn't appreciate being stuck in a car to talk about something serious then we won't do it. If you say we should leave him alone when he wants, then it's your call." Steve said, pulling away from the hug. Clint smiled at him, feeling some of the tension in the room dissolve.

OOOOOO

Tony locked the door behind him. He marched across the room, grabbed his comforter, and rolled under the bed. His fingers traced the glowing reactor on his chest, focusing on the blue light as it pushed out the darkness. He curled up into the blanket, took a shaky breath, and ignored the knock at the door.

They finally hated him. Tony knew now that everything he did to get them to love him was useless because they hated him and they were sending him away. They didn't want to put up with him anymore._ No. That's not true._ Tony thought quickly. _They told me they would never hate me. They are always helping me._

Tony crawled out from under the bed and walked slowly to the door. He opened it, just a crack to peek out. Sitting just outside was his plate of food. They cared, they wanted him to eat. Tony almost smiled until he heard the yelling down the hall. It was Steve and Clint. Tony closed the door before he could make out what they were saying. It was obvious, Steve wanted him gone. He had freaked out on him and it offended him.

Tony crawled back under his bed and focused on his breathing. He remembered what he read in the packets, he was panicking right now. They probably didn't hate him. Tony relaxed his body and breathed as deeply as possible. He whined softly as his hands began to tremble and he curled into himself.


	30. Chapter 30

**Author Note - Official half way until the end. It's a long thing. Over 100,000 words. Sorry.**

The world was exploding around him, engulfing the place in flames. Tony wanted to run out of the house, but he couldn't. His body refused to move. The flames didn't touch him, but were approaching slowly. They were so bright, everything was too bright. He was going to die here in the fire if he didn't figure out how to move. He closed his eyes at the loud explosions, waiting for the heat to hit him.

Suddenly, he was being lifted. His arms hung useless at his sides as a hand enclosed around his neck to pull him up. His eyes snapped open, taking in the too bright flames and the angry glare from his father. Howard wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed was supposed to be far away from him. They promised he would.

Howard's hands squeezed tighter around his neck. Tony called out loudly, jerking awake and crawling out from under his bed quickly. Tony kicked his comforter off of him and held onto his neck softly. No, no he was hurting him again. He had to get away.

Tony struggled to breathe as he flung open the door, kicking the plate of food that was outside the door across the hall. He rubbed the bandages wrapped around his arm as he raced down the hall, feeling for the door he wanted. As soon as he found it, praying it wasn't locked, he turned the doorknob. Tony gasped out in relief as the door opened. He pushed at it desperately and ran into the room.

"Wha- Hey!" Clint said, rubbing his eyes at the sound of his door banging open. Then Tony crashed into him, shaking desperately. Natasha sat up next to him, running her fingers through Tony's hair as Clint pulled his arms protectively around the boy. "Tony, what happened? What's wrong?"

"Make him stop! You promised." Tony whimpered, leaning into the two of them.

"Make who stop?" Natasha asked, pulling the blanket over him.

"Howard! You promised he wouldn't hurt me anymore." Tony whimpered, clutching Clint's shirt. "Make him stop." Clint cursed under his breath and reached over, turning on the light.

"It's alright, Tony. He's not here." Clint said, replacing his arms around Tony. "It's okay, you were only dreaming." Dreaming? It was a dream, just another bad dream. He had bad dreams often, about burning houses, gunshots, or being tied down. But this is the first time he dreamed about Howard. It couldn't have been a nightmare, this one was real. Tony whimpered loudly and moved his hand to rest lightly at his neck.

"Tony, look at this room. Tell me what you see." Natasha said softly, continuing to stroke his hair. Tony leaned into the touch as he looked around desperately.

"I-uh. Um. Clint's room." Tony said. He squeezed onto Clint's shirt harder with the hand that wasn't protecting his neck.

"Can you describe something in it for me? What color are the blankets on the bed? Are they comfortable? Soft?" She asked. Tony's eyes continued to dart about for a few moments before landing on the blanket around his shoulder.

"It's. It's a red blanket." Tony said. "Made of yarn. S-someone knitted it." He slowed his breathing and closed his eyes, turning to hide his face into Clint's chest.

"Tony, can you tell me where you are?" Clint asked slowly. Tony nodded.

"SHIELD HQ. Avenger's floor." Tony whispered. Natasha scooted closer, wrapping her arms around the two and laying her head on Clint's shoulder.

"Yes. You have a whole team of heroes who love you and are protecting you." Clint said. "He can't get you here." All three of them sat there with Natasha silently humming for a while. No one felt like moving, especially when Tony's breathing evened out and his quiet whimpers faded into sleep. Clint continued to hold him and Natasha continued to stroke his hair.

Clint woke up to the knocking at his door. He picked himself up off the ground, where he had been sleeping so Tony and Natasha could have the bed, looked around. Tony was still curled up tightly in Nat's red blanket while she was already sitting up in bed looking between him and the door. He opened it to find Steve and Coulson looking concerned. He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"We can't find Tony." Steve said quickly.

"It's time for his talk with Hill and he's not in his room. We checked the lab, he's not down there either." Coulson said, frowning. Coulson let out a light sigh.

"Today is not a good day to interrogate him." Clint said. Steve and Coulson both looked at him sharply. "He came into my room last night, freaked out, thinking Howard was hurting him. It took us a while to talk him down and get him to fall back asleep. It's not a good day today." Clint said firmly. Steve nodded.

"He's right. We can't do this to him today."

"Do what?" Tony asked, opening the door behind Clint. He looked down the moment he met the archer's eyes.

"One of our agents needs to talk to you about something important." Coulson said, hesitating. Tony nodded and walked down the hall towards his room to get dressed. Natasha came out to join them.

"This is a bad idea." Clint said. "They're still taking him in for interrogation." Clint turned to Natasha. She raised her head, clenching her fists.

"Phil, I like you. However, I stayed up half the night with that boy so if he comes back more scared than he is now I will kill every single one of you." She said quickly. She smiled when Tony walked back, fully dressed but still with a bedhead. "They just have a few questions because their paranoid, okay? We love you." She kissed his forehead.

Tony nodded, refusing to look at her or Clint. He was embarrassed. He had a nightmare and, thinking it was real, ran to them because he was scared. How could he do that? He woke them up and bothered them.

Coulson put a hand on his shoulder, jerking him from his thoughts. He repressed the urge to shrug the hand off. He followed the agent to the elevator silently. He followed him down another hall and stopped in front of a door.

"No matter what, Tony, you're a good kid." Coulson said, opening the door and ushering him in. Tony frowned when Coulson didn't follow him in. He looked away from the door and over to the agent sitting at the table. He recognized this room, this was where they interrogated him when they arrested him. Well, at least he wasn't handcuffed this time.

"Have a seat, Mr. Stark." She said, smiling up to him. "I hope you had a good breakfast."

"Nah, it's pretty early. It's only…" Tony looked up at the clock, standing behind the chair in front of him. He didn't want to sit, didn't even want to touch the thing, and thankfully Agent Hill didn't press the matter. "10:47. Oh, I must have slept in." He frowned, sitting down across from her.

"My name is Maria Hill. Would you like a donut?" She asked, reaching for the Dunkin' Donuts box on the desk behind her.

"Hell yeah! Don't tell Bruce." Tony grabbed a large donut, covered in chocolate and glanced back up at the agent. "So, what did I do this time? This is the room I was in when I was arrested, so…"

"I need you to tell me, in detail, about your relationship with Justin Hammer and Obadiah Stane." She said. Tony froze up, squeezing his donut.

"Why?" He whispered out.

"We have our reasons." She said softly. Tony took a deep breath, moving to take another bit of his donut before nodding.

"They were terrifying, horrible people I shouldn't have ever met." Tony said. Hill nodded, waiting for more. "I met Hammer when they grabbed me and pulled me into his limo, worst car ever, and tried to intimidate me because I stole some money from his bank account. I met Stane later when they hired me to delete the files you guys had on your investigation of them." Tony nodded quickly. "I didn't, I just moved them." He stopped, not wanting to talk about anything else that happened between him and them.

"Have you ever tried to access SHIELDs secure files before or after that moment?" She asked.

"No. You guys had your little online babysitting bracelet on me. And I didn't see why I would need to." Tony shrugged, finishing his donut and licking frosting off his fingers. Agent Hill handed him a napkin and he frowned at her. "Why? Did someone hack your files?"

"Mr. Stark, have you had any contact with any groups interested in SHIELD?" She asked firmly.

"Someone did. You think it was me." Tony said, looking around. Shit, they were going to arrest him. _Really_ arrest him this time. What if they sent him to the same jail as Howard? What if they went to the same prison? To that secret underground prison where he would never see daylight again.

"Tony, I need you to calm down." Agent Hill said quickly. Tony looked up at her desperately.

"I didn't do it, I swear I didn't." Tony said, his eyes wide as he looked around. "I don't want to leave those guys. I don't want to go to prison with him. I didn't do it. You guys have been good to me." Maria Hill nodded slowly, letting the teenager breathe. After several minutes, once he calmed down she asked her final question.

"Do you know what happened to SHIELD's files?" She asked, staring into his eyes. Pupils dilate with liars.

"No." Tony said. She nodded, telling him he was excused. He was telling the truth.

Tony closed his eyes as he waited for the elevator. He jerked away, hitting the wall, when a hand came down on his shoulder. It was Coulson.

"Sorry, Agent." Tony sighed, walking into the elevator as the doors opened.

"Are you alright, Tony?" Coulson asked as he followed him in.

"I'm ready to move. I'm sorry SHIELD doesn't trust me, if they need me out of the way I'll go." Tony said. Coulson shook his head.

"Tony, SHIELD is just in a situation it doesn't want to face and it wanted to think it was you because the only other possibility was more frightening. You aren't moving because you're in trouble, you're moving because we want to keep you safe." Coulson said, opening his arms. Tony walked into them, embracing the agent.

"Alright." He said.


	31. Chapter 31

Steve and Thor were carrying his few suitcases down to the parking garage. He had finished packing everything he thought he would need, Coulson said they would probably only need to be gone for a few weeks. The only thing Tony carried was a backpack that was slowly filling with everyone's going away presents. Bruce had given him a new laptop, Thor gave him some Asgardian candy which he insisted to Bruce it was perfectly healthy. Steve gave him a sketch pad, saying it was never too late to start a new hobby. Coulson even came by to give him t-shirts for all of the Avengers. Although, the way his eyes lit up when he handed showed him the Captain America shirt, Tony guess the others were an excuse to give him this one. He packed it all into the backpack and held it close to his chest, waiting for everyone to finish loading up the car. They had finished loading up and began saying their goodbyes.

"The moment you get back, we'll all go to Coney Island." Steve said, smiling.

"Don't see why you're not coming. Too much to take care of?" Tony asked dejectedly. Steve's smile dropped and he quickly pulled Tony into a hug.

"No. God, no. I just... I'm not good at this stuff. Clint will take great care of you though." Steve said. "I still need to learn a lot about this whole child raising thing. I can't look after you anymore."

Tony expected hugs, just not a single group hug that lasted about five minutes. Tony started laughing two minutes in, patting everyone's backs and telling them it was okay to let him go. They assured him he could call if he ever needed anything and waved goodbye as he climbed into the car with Natasha and Clint. Rhodey had come over to help them move and climbed in next to Tony.

Tony liked the drive, although it was a long one. Rhodey talked excitedly about his eighteenth birthday and how he was graduating after just one more semester thanks to Tony's excellent tutoring. He planned to go join the air force. Tony listened to his friend banter on and on about his plans, glad that for once everyone wasn't talking about what they were going to do to help him.

They lived on the fourth floor of their new building, which thankfully had an elevator because too many stairs hurt his leg. Tony carried only his backpack while everyone else insisted on carrying the bags. The apartment was small compared to the Avenger's floor, with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a kitchenette.

"This'll be great for the three of us." Clint said, dropping the bags on the ground. There was little furniture, due to the hasty preparation done by SHIELD. Here in the living room there was just a tan couch, a coffee table, and a small television.

"Alright, so where's my room?" Tony asked, walking down the hall. There were only three doors, one led to a bathroom, tiny compared to the ones back at home. The two rooms only had beds and dressers in them, Tony walked into the smaller one and plopped down onto it. It was firmer than his other one, but he could deal with it. Rhodey came in, dragging Tony's two bags in with him.

"Nice room." Rhodey said, opening up the suitcase full of clothes. "I see you have a great view of the building next door." Tony laughed, looking over to the window. He opened up his backpack and pulled out the Asgardian candy.

"Stop unpacking. I'm perfectly capable of doing that." Tony said, opening the package and holding it out to his friend. "Want some alien candy?" Rhodey sat down on the bed next to Tony, taking a piece.

"What if our Earth bodies can't take it and we die?" Rhodey smiled, looking down at the bright purple taffy in his hands. Tony grabbed his own piece and inspected it.

"Dude, it's candy. From another planet. If it kills me then I'm okay with that, I'm still eating it." Tony smiled. Rhodey groaned, but nodded. "On the count of three?"

"One." Rhodey sighed.

"Two." Tony said quickly. They both bit into their candy, completely skipping the number three. The sourness exploded across their taste buds. They both spat it out immediately, Rhodey run to the bathroom next door to rinse his mouth out. Tony limped quickly after him. He drank the water down quickly and went back for the bag.

"Hey, Clint! You want some candy?" Tony called out. Rhodey shook his head quickly.

"If you're trying to get killed by some damn super spy you can count me out." He said. Clint walked in, smiling at the two. He laughed when he saw the little baggie in Tony's hands.

"Don't tell me you actually took that from Thor." Clint sniffed at the bag, holding back a laugh. "Ah, Tony. This may be great candy for Aliens but too sour for us. Although, I've seen Nat eat a piece unfazed. Never been more terrified of the woman." He smiled brightly, handing the bag back.

"I need to call him and complain." Tony said. "I was expecting edible candy." Tony pulled out the smart phone Clint had given him. Sure, it was pink and covered in Hello Kitty faces, but it had unlimited talk and text. He could handle payback for messing with Clint's laptop.

OOOOOO

Tony woke up the next morning to the smell of something burning. Tony jumped out of bed, heart beating fast, and ran out of the room. He let out a loud sigh of relief when he saw Clint Barton, cursing while standing at the stove.

"Jesus, Clint. I thought the place was on fire." Tony said. Clint ignored him and continued to cook. "Rude."

"Oh, he can't hear you." Natasha said, coming out of the bathroom while towel drying her hair. "He only takes out his hearing aids when he takes a shower and he always forgets to put them back it." She walked up to Clint, tapping him on the shoulder. After waving her hands around a bit she handed him two small orbs.

"Yeah, water pressure is great." Clint said, sticking the orbs in his ears. He turned back to Tony, smiling. "Sorry, I'm burning pancakes. Have you had a shower yet?"

"Nah, I'm good. Just make me some pancakes." Tony said, moving over to the couch.

"Chocolate chip or blueberry?"

"It's like you don't even know me. Chocolate chip." Tony said, groaning as the smoke detector started going off. Natasha reached up to turn it off before pushing Clint out of the way.

"Too bad, you're having blueberry." She said. Clint shrugged and joined Tony on the couch.

"I tried, you know." Clint put his feet up, and grabbing the remote. "This would be a lot easier if she would let me order a pizza for breakfast."

"It's like living with Bruce, you never get what you want to eat." Tony laughed, ripping the remote from his hands and putting on cartoons. "I didn't know you were deaf."

"Yeah, 80% deaf." Clint nodded, pulling out one of his hearing aids. They were small orbs designed to stay in his ears and go unnoticed. "SHIELD made me these. I'm always forgetting them, though. Nat has to keep reminding me so I can go to work, kickass, and hear at the same time." He put it back in and looked confused at the cartoon, which showed a bunch of talking animals fighting really rude unicorns.

Natasha brought in the pancakes, blueberry pancakes, and squeezed herself down next to Clint. She immediately began tearing apart the cartoon animal's battle strategies while Clint continued to look confused, slathering his pancakes in syrup. Tony took one bite of his pancakes and moaned loudly.

"Oh my god, these are the best pancakes I've ever had." Tony said loudly. "What did you do? Sprinkle fairy dust on them?" Natasha laughed, shaking her head.

"No, I cooked them right. You're lucky you didn't have to eat whatever the hell Clint tried to cook." She said, smiling wickedly. Clint made a noise and waved his arms.

"Well, I apologize for wanting to make breakfast for my family." Clint said. Tony took a bite of his pancakes, watching the two bicker back and forth. It did seem incredibly silent with just the two of them without Thor trying to make bets on which of them would win in a fight and Steve telling him Natasha would obviously destroy Clint. He missed Bruce, sitting with him and telling him all about what was currently happening in science during these little moments. But this was comfortable.

"Tony, please tell Clint that pizza is not a food group." Natasha said, pulling Tony from his thoughts. They were both looking at him with such seriousness on their faces he almost burst out laughing.

"Well, the crust can be a wheat. Cheese is dairy, pizza sauce and toppings can be vegetables. Put some meat on there. Pineapple if you want and you got a fruit. Boom, you have all the food groups you need so it's like a magic food that should be its own food group." Tony said, smiling. Clint clapped him on the back.

"That's my boy." Clint laughed out while Natasha sighed.

OOOOOO

A few days later and it was time for Tony's next appointment with Dr. Moreno. Natasha said she had shopping to do, so she dropped them off at the building and told them to call when they were done. Clint went immediately to his seat next to the free coffee and magazines while Tony stood absently beside him. He rubbed his hands together anxiously, waiting.

"Do you want me to come in this time?" Clint asked, picking up a car magazine. Tony shook his head quickly.

Several minutes later, Tony was called into Dr. Moreno's office. Clint nodded at him as he walked in. She was ready for him this time, had all the chairs pushed away into a corner and covered. In their place she had several large cushions laying on the ground. As she closed the door behind him she slipped him a bag of gummy worms. Tony put them in his pocket to save for later.

"I'm really happy to see you again, Tony." Dr. Moreno said, smiling back. "How have you been since last time I've seen you?" Tony nodded.

"Pretty good." Tony looked up at her, frowning.

"Have you been practicing your grounding techniques?" She said, sitting down on one of the cushions.

"Yeah. They seemed stupid at first, but they're actually quite useful." Tony said.

"That's great! Can you give me an example of when you used them?" She asked, smiling softly.

"A few nights ago. I… had a bad dream. I just thought it was real when I woke up." Tony said slowly, frowning. "Clint and Nat helped me."

"Do you want to tell me about your dream?" No, Tony didn't want to tell her about it. The last thing she wanted to talk about was Howard. He could talk about all the bad feelings he got throughout his day, he could talk about his stupid fear of chairs, he could talk about how he didn't like the dark anymore, and he could even talk about how he was still scared of… them coming back and tying him down again and hurting him. But not Howard, a man with no power or ability to break out of jail and come for him. It was ridiculous. He was supposed to be here to talk about the bad stuff, like his kidnapping, but Tony didn't think Howard was that bad. He lived with him for fifteen years.

"All we've done was talk about me. If I'm supposed to trust you, shouldn't I know a bit about you?" Tony asked quickly.

"Why don't we keep this about you? I'm here to help you." She said.

"Won't even tell me what kind of name Moreno is?" Tony said. She smiled, nodding slightly.

"Colombian." Dr. Moreno said. "So, if you don't want to talk about the other thing, why don't we go back to how you feel about chairs?" She asked waiting. Tony nodded quickly, thankful to be moving on.

"Yeah, okay." He said, watching her as she opened her notepad.

"How do you feel when you sit on a couch?"

"Fine. Couches are good." Tony said, confused by the question.

"What do you feel the difference is between the two?" She asked softly.

"I don't know. In a chair, my arms can go around the back and can get cuffed there. That means I can get tied down and that's bad. Couches don't do that." Tony said.

"So what about a stool, that doesn't have a back?" She asked, scribbling away. Tony stopped to think. He hadn't sat in a stool yet, hadn't even looked at one. Maybe he wouldn't be scared.

"I don't know." Tony said. He gave out a sigh, this was useless anyway. Clint made him come so he would feel better and talking about his embarrassingly stupid fears were not doing that. Sensing his frustration, Dr. Moreno changed the subject.

"That's fine, Tony. So, tell me about how you feel about the people you live with now." Tony looked up, he was told he was allowed to talk about the Avengers, just not any missions he may have heard about. This woman was cleared by SHIELD.

"We moved, so I'm just living with Clint and Natasha now." Tony said, watching her continue to write on her note pad. He didn't like the idea of her taking notes on what might be wrong with him. "I like it. They're funny and nice all the time."

"How do you feel about leaving everyone else?" Tony thought about her question for a moment. He always had bad feelings when he thoughts about the move, but he never stopped to figure them out. He answered after several long seconds.

"Guilty. I think they're mad at me." Tony gulped, blinking quickly. "I was afraid of Steve. When I was with… Hammer and Stane, I had a bad dream about my dad hating me. Then it turned into Steve hating me. I think that upset him, offended him and now I had to leave." Her writing quickened, but she continued to look up at him, waiting for him to continue. "I tried to be good, so they wouldn't hate me."

"Why would you think they would hate you, Tony?" She asked slowly. Tony knew why, it was the same reason his mom left him and turned to drugs and the same reason Howard's beatings grew worse and the same reason he was sent away. It was his fault, if he hadn't told Steve he thought he was willing to hurt him or destroyed Bruce's lab and gotten Thor in trouble for it they wouldn't have sent him away. Coulson and SHIELD thought he did something terrible to their files and didn't want him on their property anymore.

"Because I'm selfish and worthless and stupid." Tony said firmly. Dr. Moreno frowned.

"Why do you think that?" She asked, putting her pen down.

"It's true." Tony whispered.

"No, it isn't." She said and waited.

"Because… my dad told me."

"Tony, what do the people you're with now tell you?" She asked. Tony paused for a second, thinking back on all the conversations he can remember with them.

"They always tell me I'm brilliant, wonderful, that they love me." Tony muttered.

"Do you believe them?" Tony nodded slowly, he did.

"I think I'm done now." He said softly. She smiled warmly.

"Alright, thank you so much for coming in. Will I see you next week?" She asked, walking over to her desk. Tony followed her.

"Yeah." Tony said. "Hey, someone close to me is deaf and I was wondering what I should do to learn sign language. Just in case they forget their hearing aids…or whatever." Tony muttered. Dr. Moreno smiled up to him.

"I know just the thing." She said, writing something down on a post-it note. "This is a great website for learning. Can you send Mr. Barton in now?" Tony nodded, putting the note in his pocket and heading out the door. He walked up to Clint quickly as the man tried to hide that he was reading another wedding magazine and stood up. Tony crashed into him, pulling him into a desperate hug.

**Author Note - Yes, this story is 100,000 words. Sorry. Also, there is a part 2 currently in the process of being written that is so far 60,000 words. Doubly sorry. I can't stop.**


	32. Chapter 32

Natasha picked them up shortly after they called. Clint praised Tony for staying a whole forty five minutes this time, fifteen minutes longer than last week. Hopefully, he would soon be able to manage a whole hour. At least Dr. Moreno never made a big deal about him leaving. Natasha's shopping consisted of buying rugs, lamps, curtains, and several other items for the apartment that Shield forgot when they hastily put it together for them.

They set everything up exactly where she demanded they be put. Tony got a yellow desk lamp and red curtains for his room. He hung them up and plugged the lamp in next to his bed, in case he had another nightmare and needed it.

Once he was done, he opened his laptop and went to the website Dr. Moreno showed him about learning sign language. It was all videos of people demonstrating the alphabet and every word he could imagine. He started with the alphabet, which was easy enough. Tony always learned easiest when learning with his hands.

"Are you learning sign language?" Clint asked from the door, holding an opened pizza box. He took a bite and smiled.

"Uh, my doctor recommended I take up a hobby and this was what she suggested." Tony said, smiling as he glanced down at the pizza. Clint laughed, jumping over to the bed and closing the laptop.

"Alright, I'll take that answer. Luckily, you don't need the internet. You have me, I speak over 15 languages and that includes sign language." Clint said quickly, holding up the pizza box. "Take a piece and give me an 'A'."

Tony grabbed the largest piece in the box, what a beautiful day it was because Clint ordered stuffed crust. "Oh god, thank you." Tony sighed out, taking a bite and lifting his hand to form the letter Clint demanded.

"That's the right letter. However, I think you mean 'thank you'." Clint said, waving his hand down from his chin to say thank you.

"Nat! Tony's learning sign language!" Clint called out with a smile. He waited with a pause, taking a large bite of his pizza with a moan.

"Don't teach him anything inappropriate!" She yelled back. Clint laughed, but agreed.

"Are you guys getting married?" Tony asked. Clint paused, biting his lower lip.

"Why do you ask?" Clint said, smiling slightly. He was signing everything he was saying, still determined to get Tony to learn.

"You guys are obviously into each other. No one has to tell me you're a thing for me to know you guys are a thing." Tony said, laughing as Clint's smile grew larger. "And I caught you reading those wedding magazines. What? You like the dresses?"

"No, those old magazines are only showing last season's dresses." Clint said, closing the empty pizza box. He sat there on Tony's bed, waiting for a few minutes. Tony started to worry, maybe he was prying where he had no business. Hopefully Clint wouldn't be mad. "We weren't going to announce anything just yet." He said finally.

Tony nearly jumped on the bed. This was great. Natasha and Clint were getting married, they were happy and in love and getting married and going to spend the rest of their lives together. Clint joined him in his half jumping on the bed, smiling like a dork.

"What are you guys doing?" Natasha asked, raising her eyebrows at the two of them jumping on their knees. She sighed, but smiled softly.

"Tony guessed that we were getting married. He's happy about it." Clint said, pulling a blanket over the pizza box.

"You were reading bridal magazines, it's not like you were making it difficult for me." Tony laughed.

"How do you feel about this Tony?" She asked, coming over to sit on the bed. Natasha reached up and began stroking his hair, like she always did.

"Happy. I'm glad you guys love each other, are happy together, and are doing something for yourselves." Tony said, smiling at the two of them. "So, what are you guys going to do after you get married? Are you guys going to stay Avengers? Are you guys going to move off base?"

"We haven't gone over all the details, but we are definitely staying Avengers." Clint said with Natasha nodding along.

"What about me? Are you guys going to sign me back off to Steve?" Tony said, frowning slightly. Clint shook his head quickly and Natasha smiled.

"No, Tony." She said. "We were just planning on keeping you with us." Tony nodded slowly. He liked the idea of staying with them, hopefully this time they would be closer to the rest of the team and not across the city, if they did decide to move out.

"For how long?" Tony asked. Clint sighed.

"For…..ever." He said. Tony was taken aback. He always thought this was temporary, that they would get sick of him and send him away, he was fairly certain that was not happening right now. Mostly he just thought that when his mom got better he would go back to living with her. What if his mom didn't want him back? What if she did, but he decided to stay with Clint and Natasha. Could he just abandon her like that? Tony shivered, looking away from the two.

"Can I have a few minutes?" They both nodded, Natasha leaning in to kiss him on the forehead and Clint giving him a light squeeze of the shoulder. Once they were out the door, Tony ran up to lock it. He went back, sitting on his bed and pulled out his phone. Coulson would know. He was supposed to be keeping up with this stuff. He found the number quickly on the stupidly wonderful Hello Kitty phone Clint had gotten him and waited for the agent to answer.

"Hey, Tony. How's the new place?" Coulson asked, picking up after a few rings.

"Good, Nat likes to cook good food so Clint sneaks pizza in." Tony said, tapping the pizza box that was still hiding under his blanket. "Can I ask you something? It's important." There was a pause on the other end of the phone, he could practically hear Coulson worrying.

"Of course. What is it?" Coulson asked.

"You're keeping up with how my mom is doing, right?" Tony whispered into the phone. The walls here weren't as soundproof as they were back at HQ, another thing he missed. Sometimes he'll wakeup from a nightmare, sometimes they were like reliving memories and other times just a jumble of things he was most afraid of, and he'd walk around the apartment. It wasn't as large as the Avenger's floor so he couldn't go very far, but pretty soon Natasha or Clint would come out of their room to sit with him, watch tv, or make tea. Thin wall, he woke them up and most of the time he didn't even feel bad about it.

"Yes, she's doing well. She's been clean for over a month. We had an issue with her finding ways to sneak… stuff in her first few weeks, but she's better now. She's participating in her group and activities. She's doing a lot of writing, I hear." Coulson said slowly.

"Is she writing to Howard?" Tony asked. He wouldn't be surprised. Maria Stark always loved her husband, but Tony couldn't help the pang of betrayal he felt.

"Yes, Tony." Coulson answered.

"Has she tried to write to me?" Tony said. It had been nine weeks since Clint had moved him out of his parent's house and in with them, but he hadn't heard a thing from his mother. She didn't want to talk to him, she wanted to talk to Howard.

"No, I'm sorry she hasn't." Coulson sighed.

"Not asking to call or anything?" Tony whimpered, taking a shaky breath.

"She… so far hasn't made an effort to contact you." Coulson said, sounding defeated. "I'll tell you the moment she does, kid. And if she doesn't then it's okay because I have been getting nonstop questions from the rest of the team, they're upset that the only person who was given clearance to know where your safe house is was your friend, James Rhodes." Coulson laughed, trying to lift the mood. "They miss you. Once we get SHIELD sorted out you can come home and see them."

"Sounds good." Tony mumbled. "Bye." Tony hung up quickly. His mom didn't want to talk to him, but a bunch of people he had known for a few months are upset they can't see him. He must have been right about that, she did hate him. Could he stay here with Clint and Nat forever? At least until he was 18 and ignore the fact that he was abandoning her? She needed him, he did everything for her.

His hands trembled as they wiped tears off of his face. He grabbed the red knitted blanket Nat had given him and curled up on his bed. He kicked the pizza box off of his bed and grabbed his laptop. He ignored everything and focused on the beginner lessons on sign language.


	33. Chapter 33

Tony was having a very bad day. Considering he had just gotten the news that Howard was sent to prison he was thrilled for a moment. He was gone, far away in some state prison he would never see. They did the whole trial without him, thank goodness. They just used photos of his injuries and medical reports, which apparently were extensive. Tony didn't pay attention to all of that. What caught Tony's attention was the fact that he was sentenced to three years. Three fucking years.

Tony nodded at the news, walked back to his bedroom silently and locked himself in. He didn't even manage to crawl under his bed, he just slumped down his door and sat there. He would be eighteen when Howard got out. What if he tried to come back? He could beat the shit out of Tony then and it wouldn't be child abuse then. All the world could give him was three extra years of peace. He curled up on the floor by the door, shaking.

He laid there for an hour or so at his door, ignoring all the knocks to see if he was okay. Eventually he crawled up onto his bed. Normally he would crawl under it but today he felt like curling up in Natasha's red blanket and staring out the window. It was raining, he liked that. Natasha's blanket made him smile. She would save him, like Clint did last time. She would kick Howard's ass, he knew she wanted to.

Tony silently traced his finger around the arc reactor, looking out the window at the rain and the one building he could see. He glanced down at his suitcase, left on the floor at the foot of his bed. He reached down, pulling out the gummy worms Dr. Moreno had given him and that he had stashed there. He thought to save them. Now seemed like a good time, when he was scared and upset and hating everything his life had turned into.

_Well, almost everything._ Tony thought, shoveling a few of the gummies into his mouth._ You don't hate the team._ Tony didn't hate them, he liked them a lot. And he was almost certain they didn't hate him. That's what he told himself every day, that they didn't hate him. All the packets and self-help papers he had to read sometimes told him he would get negative thoughts and recently he had been noticing quite a few of them. The papers suggested he looked for the evidence for and against his negative thoughts. If he thought about the whole team hating him, he could think of so little times that hatred seemed possible. They had done nothing but help him, even promised to protect him. Maybe they would stick around long enough to protect him three years from now.

They probably couldn't. He got lucky last time when Clint showed up, what happens when he's an adult and they don't care anymore? He should honestly be happy. Howard was going away and when he gets out, Tony will be old enough to run away on his own. But he wasn't happy. He would never run away. He knew for a fact he would still be here waiting and Howard would come back and pick up where he left off and his mom would go from ignoring him in rehab back to her regular spot of ignoring her at home. Or maybe he really was lucky and they would just kick him out. He laughed at the injustice of it all.

He shook his head, pushing the negative thoughts away again. They wouldn't leave him alone with Howard, they cared about him. They all promised he would never hurt him again. He was just feeling really bad today so he was having bad thoughts. He would get over this and feel better later.

Tony looked at the clock when a knock penetrated his thoughts. He frowned, he had been laying around for three hours, four if he counted the one in front of the door. The rain had long stopped and he was just clutching an empty gummy bear package now. He didn't like that, just laying around and having time disappear on him. He opened the door, revealing the worried face of Clint Barton.

_"What are you doing?"_ Clint signed quickly, looking around the apartment. He hardly ever wore his hearing aid anymore around the apartment now that Tony was better at signing, except for when they sat around watching tv or if someone had something important to talk about. If those cases, he kept them in their travel case in his pocket ready for use.

_"Thinking."_ Tony answered. Apparently, that's all he had been doing for four hours. That and moved from laying on the floor by the door to on his bed.

_"Good or bad?"_ Clint's smile drooped a bit as he continued to sign. He had been worrying for hours, ever since Agent Hill came by to deliver the news about Howard Stark and Tony locked himself in his room.

_"Bit of both."_ Tony signed, closing the door quickly. He couldn't stand looking at Clint. He and Natasha and everyone else had done so much for him. Tony couldn't help but feel like he was intruding in on their lives, they were heroes and when they weren't saving the world they trying to get him to feel better every day. And now Clint and Natasha were getting married. They should be happy and focusing on themselves, but here they were worrying about him. He couldn't ask them to save him from Howard again, he had to solve his own problems. Tony couldn't do this to them anymore. Suddenly, running away didn't seem so difficult.

He grabbed his backpack, pouring out the contents. The sketch book Steve had given him was filled with many small doodles and Thor's candy still remained untouched. He wouldn't need Bruce's laptop anymore, but he kept the t-shirts Coulson gave him. He folded them and returned them to his backpack. He added several more shirts and several pairs of jeans. He grabbed his wallet and wrote a hasty note.

_Dear Clint and Nat,_  
><em>I'm sorry. I'm messing everything up. I know you guys don't hate me, but you guys are always worrying and trying to make me better but I'm not getting better and I don't want to be taking over anymore. Focus on your wedding, tell the team I'm sorry. I know I promised to stick around and try and you guys would take care of my mom, but can you guys still do that? Please?<em>  
><em>I love you guys. I'm sorry.<em>  
><em>Tony.<em>

He taped the note to his wall, just above the bed where he knew they would see it. He gently pushed his window opened and slung his backpack over his shoulder. He stepped out onto the fire escape as softly as he could so as to not make any noise. He took the steps slowly, reaching the ground and running off down the alley.

He stopped a few blocks away, leaning against a wall to take the weight off of his throbbing leg. He wasn't ready for running yet. He didn't like how big it felt outside, missing the cramped comfort he always felt at home. But he couldn't go back. He took a moment, then limped over to an ATM. Praying it would work, he swiped in his SHIELD card that Clint gave him. The SHIELD logo popped up onto the screen, giving him his balance. He had just under a thousand dollars. He hit the withdraw button, tied the pile of twenties together with a rubber band, and stuffed it into the bottom of his backpack.

Hopefully a bus ticket wasn't too expensive. He could get out of the state and never have the chance of seeing Howard again. California seemed nice, he could go there. Then he wouldn't need the Avenger's wasting their lives taking care of him. He limped over to a bench, wiping off the water with the bottom of his shirt and sat down, waiting for his leg to stop hurting.

"Hey Tony! Long time no see!" Tony looked up quickly, anxiously seeking out the source of the voice.

"Oh, hey Happy." Tony sighed, relieved. It was Happy Hogan, one of his old friends from high school. "Yeah, haven't seen you much since I graduated."

"Well, I just graduated. Going off to DC because I got a job with this security company." Happy smiled. "What about you? You sorta disappeared off the face of the Earth and Rhodes is being all secretive. We were starting to think he killed you."

"Nah. He's just joining the military, thinks he's a spy." Tony laughed. "I've just been having family issues so I've been moving around a lot."

"Staying with relatives?" Happy frowned.

"Yeah, you could say that." Tony nodded. "They're great, they just worry too much."

"Well, that's good. You need someone to worry about you. Your parents didn't seem to care at all." Happy asked. Tony nodded. That was the problem, they spent all their time worrying about him that it would be better for them, and since they were fucking superheroes, better for the world if they didn't need to worry about him anymore. Clint and Natasha can go back to living with the rest of the team now. They would like that, base has more stuff suited for spies. He doesn't know how many times he walked out into the living room seeing them do pushups or sparring with all the furniture pushed out of the way. Now they won't have to protect him when Howard gets out, they can just continue doing their important work and Tony could find work or something in California.

"Hey, Tony. You're spacing out on me." Happy said, waving his hand in front of Tony's face. Tony jerked back, frowning.

"Sorry, that's becoming a habit." Tony muttered.

"Getting tired? Here, I'll walk you home." Happy said, standing up.

"No, I'm just going to wait here for a little while." Tony smiled. Happy nodded and left. He lifted up his leg and rubbed it. He was only a few blocks from the apartment so as soon as his leg stopped hurting he would get going again. He blamed all the stairs on the fire escape.

Ten minutes later, Tony began walking again and at a much slower pace this time. He frowned at everyone he passed. This had been the first time he went out for a walk since the kidnapping, he didn't want a repeat incident. His breathing became shallower with every passing block, his limp more prominent.

He collapsed in an alley, twenty blocks away from the apartment building. He couldn't take all the people anymore, he couldn't stand being outside anymore, and he couldn't walk anymore. His leg hadn't hurt this bad since it was still healing. He sat against the brick wall behind him and sobbed into his arms. How could he think he could run away if he couldn't even walk that far and didn't like the outside? He didn't look up to see who was holding onto him and whispering soothing, but he recognized the voice.

"It's okay Tony. You're safe." Natasha whispered to him, holding him close.

"No, 's not. You guys won't be happy if you have me." Tony sobbed, rubbing his hand over his face.

"Hey, kid. We're happy because we have you. Why do you think we want to keep you forever?" Clint said, bending down in front of them.

"Did you guys follow me?" Tony said, his body shaking as he continued to lean into Natasha's hug.

"Not the issue, don't run away." She said quickly.

"But I'm not getting better. You guys are always so nice, so willing to help me, and it's pointless. You guys need to focus on the wedding and being happy." Tony muttered. "How can you be happy when I'm messed up and bothering you guys?"

"Tony, you are getting better. I've seen it." Clint said softly. "And we're happy having you. You're our kid. We'll rather have to worry about you every day with us than worry about what's happening to you out here."

"And trust me, we're focusing on the wedding." Natasha said, running her hands through Tony's hair. "Clint wants a big wedding with horses and fireworks. I just want to get the papers signed and come home. We were going to ask you to pick."

"Why?" Tony asked, wiping away the last of his tears.

"Because you're a part of this family. You're important to us." Clint said, moving in to sit on Tony's other side.

"No fireworks." Tony muttered. "I like the horses." Clint laughed while Natasha smiled warmly.

"Are you coming home?" Natasha asked.

"My leg hurts, give he a few." Tony sighed.

"I'll carry you." Clint said, picking Tony up and walking back to the apartment building. "Don't do that again. We love you." Tony nodded. He'll have to apologize later. He thought he would be helping, giving them a chance to get rid of a burden. He smiled, they didn't want rid of him.

"I love you too."


	34. Chapter 34

Tony curled up on the couch when they brought him back. Natasha brought him out his blankets and pillows and let him just lay there and watch cartoons. They even called Rhodey over to sit with him. Rhodey didn't ask any questions. He just sang along to the theme songs on every show on Cartoon Network and had a one-sided talk about his day, which consisted of helping his mother make cookies for charity with the VA.

"Happy called me earlier. He said he ran into you." Rhodey said softly. "Thank goodness, our friends were starting to think I killed you. Wouldn't have been long before they were looking in my house for lamps made out of skin or whatever." Rhodey laughed out, waiting for Tony to answer.

"Oh, this is the Princess Cookie episode. This one is not right, not for kids." He said, changing the subject as he pointed to the tv. He went into explaining the entire episode, looking over towards the end to find Tony asleep, snoring slightly. He walked into the kitchenette, where Clint and Natasha had been perched on the counters drinking tea and watching them. "What happened? I've never seen him so… out of it."

"He got news about his father's conviction today." Natasha said bitterly. "He was only sentenced to three years and it upset him." She nodded towards the living room.

"That's it!?" Rhodey yelled out, covering his mouth quickly. He glanced back at Tony, thankfully still asleep.

"I know, if he's smart he'll stay the hell away from the city when he gets out." Clint said.

"Tony locked himself in his room for several hours. Then Clint received a text alert saying Tony withdrew all his money. We checked his room, he wasn't there." Natasha sighed. "Clint practically jumped out of the window. But, Tony left a note saying he was leaving." She frowned. She had burned the note after reading it. She hated what it said and how desperate and sad the handwriting looked.

"So we went to where the ATM was located, found Tony sitting on a bench. I wanted to take him home right there, but Nat wanted to give him a moment. So we followed him for a few blocks until he went down an alley and just broke down." Clint sighed, putting his head in his hands. "He just went on about how he wasn't getting better and how it would be better if he wasn't around so we wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. Why would he think that? I'll never stop worrying about him. It's what I do."

"Then we talked to him, calmed him down, and convinced him to come home. He's probably still upset, still processing everything. He's exhausted." Natasha said. "I just want to know how his thought process went from Howard in prison to him ruining out lives."

"I don't know. Maybe he thought of all the good things you guys did for him after that business with his dad and thought you guys had done enough." Rhodey shrugged.

"This is probably just a bad day for him, he just needs to rest." Natasha said.

"Maybe I should put off joining the Air Force and stick around to help you guys." Rhodey said.

"No. He thinks he's taking over people's lives. Just keep doing what you planned." Natasha said. "We'll call his therapist tomorrow, find something that might help him." Everyone nodded.

"You know, he told us he loved us." Clint continued, breaking the silence. He smiled brightly.

"Well, yeah. I could have told you that." Rhodey said. "You guys are better than his parents, and he loved them."

"So, as his best friend, do you think he would be open to us officially adopting him and actually becoming his parents?" Natasha asked, taking a sip of her tea. Rhodey sighed.

"Geez, I don't know. He still has his mom and if there is a chance of her getting better and taking him back I think he might take it." Rhodey said. Clint and Natasha shared a look. If he did decide to go back, that was that.

"Well, let's just work on getting him a bit better first." Natasha said.

OOOOOO

"Group Therapy?" Tony groaned. He was still sitting on the couch, but at least he was talking again. "Whaaaat?"

"Yes, Dr. Moreno thinks it will be good for you to get out and talk to people who would understand how you're feeling." Natasha said. "Please?"

"She really recommended it?" He asked, Clint and Natasha nodded. "Am I going to have to talk to them?" They nodded again. Tony let out another groan.

"This will be good for you, Tony." Clint said. Tony looked between them, frowning.

"Fine." He said. Clint and Natasha showered him with hugs and cheers. He took a moment savor the praise and affection until the pulled away again. "I'll go on one condition. You guys have a date night. Go out and do something fun once a week without worrying about me." They paused, looking at each other before agreeing.

"We could take that mission in Jersey." Natasha said with a mischievous smile.

"We're not killing people on our date night." Clint said quickly, turning back to Tony. "There are rules, sadly. These are civilians who will be in your group so you can't mention SHIELD, can't mention the names of who kidnapped you, and you can't mention that you live with the Avengers."

"I can deal with that." Tony said. "When is it?"

"They have meetings every weeknight down at the community center. You can pick when you want to go." Nat said, smiling. "We're really proud of you."

"Don't be proud yet, I haven't gone." Tony said, smiling. He gathered up his blankets and pillows and started walking towards his room, deciding he's spent enough time on the couch. He changed into some sweatpants and a shirt Coulson gave him and plopped down onto his bed. He frowned at the large hammer on his shirt surrounded by lightning. Tony pulled out his phone.

"Hey, Tony! You've been gone a week and you're finally calling?" Steve said cheerfully, answering the phone.

"Yeah, I missed you guys. Just put me on speaker." Tony said. He heard Steve's annoyed mutter as several buttons were pressed. It was soon joined by Bruce's amused muttering.

"Hey, Tony! We're all here! Me, Steve, and Thor." Bruce said after several minutes.

"Young one! I have read every book you recommended. Do the good men always die in your stories?" Thor asked.

"No. Sometimes good women die too." Tony said. He heard Thor sigh sadly and laughed. "Welcome to Earth literature, big guy."

"So, how are you feeling? Have Clint and Natasha been nice? Are you eating all of your vegetables?" Steve started asking quickly.

"I'm feeling okay. Didn't feel too good yesterday, but doing better. Clint and Nat are great. And yes, they do make me eat my vegetables, sadly. At least now I get to eat good food with it." Tony laughed out, hearing Bruce's sigh.

"What about yesterday? Are you okay?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a low moment." Tony said, rolling over in bed to look out his window. "I'm feeling better now. In fact, I wanted to call and thank you guys for everything you've done for me. You didn't have to do that, but you did. So thanks."

"It was our pleasure, young one. We are your family." Thor laughed out softly. "It is our duty to protect you and care for you and it is one we do with great happiness."

"Are you sure you're alright, Tony?" Bruce said slowly. "We really do love you. Everything we do is because we want you to be okay. If anything were to happen…" He trailed off.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Tony said. "Howard gets out of prison in three years."

"We know." Steve said darkly.

"And if he gets out… and tries to hurt me again. You guys would protect me?" Tony asked. He felt stupid for questioning them.

"Of course." Thor said.

"Because you guys want to?" Tony said, waiting. He couldn't live with himself if he spent his entire life leaning on people who didn't want to support him. He had to know.

"Yes, Tony." Steve said. "We want to make sure nothing ever hurts you."

"Okay. I trust you guys." Tony said. "Thank you."

"Hey, call again soon. Real soon, don't wait another week, okay?" Bruce said quickly.

"Okay." Tony smiled, hanging up. He wrapped himself back up in his red blanket Nat had given him and focused on the smell of Natasha cooking spaghetti and Clint singing some rock song terribly. This time he laid down with a smile. It was a good day.


	35. Chapter 35

It was Clint and Natasha's first official weekly date night. They decided to just go out to dinner, not wanting to leave Tony for very long. They were worried he would have a rough time. They called Coulson to come sit with him, but he was busy with the creator of some killer robots in Austria that he had to send Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk to take care of. So they called someone else they could trust, Maria Hill. They gave her instructions on how to help Tony if he had an incident, gave Tony hugs and kissed his cheek, and headed out the door.

"You have any beer, kid?" Maria asked, looking at Tony after they left.

"I'm fifteen." Tony chuckled. Agent Hill walked over to the couch he was sitting on, plopping down beside him.

"Exactly, teenagers these days always have alcohol." She turned on the tv, changing the channel away from the cartoons to some foreign soap opera.

"You do know my dad was an alcoholic, right?" Tony said, frowning at the show and the dialogue he couldn't understand. "What is this?"

"So was my father, but I don't condemn the beverage. And this is Russian. Ask Romanov to teach you, it's a great show." Maria said, smiling down at him.

"Well, if you come over next week I'm sure I could sneak something." Tony said, shrugging. "Clint taught me sign language. I'm sure Nat could teach me Russian."

"Don't start drinking, kid. I'm joking." Maria said, changing the channel to something in English. "I've been meaning to apologize about last time we spoke. We may have gotten off on the wrong foot. I might have come on a little strong. They tell you not to mess with the tech nerds because they can destroy your life so, my bad."

"It's fine. My um, recruitment to SHIELD was rather… interesting. I did break the law. I understand that when it happened again you wanted to make sure it wasn't me." Tony said, smiling up to her. "I won't use my vast talents with technology to destroy your life. Today." Maria laughed.

"You want to order a pizza?" She asked.

"No, Clint orders one every other day. Let's get Chinese." Tony said, thinking of egg rolls and delicious chow mein. "I know exactly what I want." Agent Hill enthusiastically agreed and called in their order.

"So, they left quite a bit of instructions for you. Like new parents leaving their baby with someone for the first time." She said. "They really care, you know."

"I know, but I'm actually quite capable of taking care of myself for a few hours." Tony groaned. They were just worried he would try to run away again if he started getting low. He already promised them he wouldn't and if he did start getting low he would just tuck himself away under his bed like he usually did. If he forgot where he was he would use one of the grounding techniques he was always practicing. If he spaced out, then he would just lose time. He didn't like it, but it was manageable. He certainly didn't plan on sleeping so there wouldn't be any nightmares.

"I don't doubt it. I'm just here as a formality. Thank goodness too, I was getting stressed back at base. Getting ready for the missions and such. I needed a break." She said, smiling down at him. The food arrived and the started eating quickly. Tony couldn't remember the last time he had Chinese and the taste of his egg rolls and his noodles were everything he needed. "You want to talk about it?" Maria asked, mouth full of vegetables.

"All everyone ever wants me to do is talk about it. The team, my therapist, they're even sending me to a group." Tony muttered, struggling with his chopsticks. He threw them aside and went to get a fork. "Why can't I just leave it alone and forget about it?"

"It doesn't work that way, kid. If you ignore your problems they will only get work, like an infection." She said, turning down the tv. Tony came back, holding out an extra fork for her. She took it, nodding to him. "Plus, you hardly know me. I'm a stranger. It's easier to talk about the heavy stuff with a stranger than it is to the ones you really know."

"Fine, I'll do the feelings talk. But you have to go first." Tony said. He pointed his fork at her before digging into his chow mein. She looked around, pondering for a moment. "If not, we have an xbox."

"Nah, I'll talk." She said, nodding quickly. Maria turned towards him on the couch and crossed her legs, leaning forward as if she were telling her secrets during a slumber party. "All of this is in my file, so don't think you're getting anything top secret." She stuck her tongue out.

"Darn, you ruined my master plan." Tony chuckled.

"Alright, I was born in Chicago. Wonderful city. My father drank, as you know. Always yelling at me. He was rather resentful that during childbirth I had lived while my mother had died. And he made that quite clear. He may not have been as cruel as yours, but I hated him." She said calmly, eating another forkful of her food. Tony frowned at her. "When I turned eighteen I joined the armed forces and then SHIELD. Doing pretty good for myself here."

"If you hated him so much, how are you so okay with talking about it?" Tony asked.

"I've come to terms with everything. It's in the past and I can't change it. So I accept it and move on." Maria said. She smiled, pointing at him. "Your turn." Tony sighed.

"Well, I did tell you I would. Didn't I?" Tony said, biting his cheek. "If I'm talking about my problems it might be a bit longer of a discussion." Maria shrugged. He looked around quickly. He didn't know her, she didn't have any expectations or any motives he could think of. He wasn't burdening her. He could do this. He would start at the beginning and for once talk about the one thing he didn't want to. "Alright, so my dad always hit me. It used to be no big deal because mom would yell at him and cry and hold me. Then he would apologize and take me for ice cream. Then she just left. Well, she was still there, but she would lay around sleeping all day or doing drugs or whatever. Then it got worse, so much worse. He started drinking more and more and yelling all the time at every little thing I did and I didn't understand. When he hit me I thought I was dying because he would hit so much harder than what he used to, telling me it was my fault mama went away. After so many years I just wanted to run away so I took money from bad people to hack into SHIELD and got arrested and met a bunch of nice people. Then he did something really bad. I thought he was going to kill me, I was so scared. I didn't end up showing up to meet with the team like I was supposed to so Clint showed up and he saved me."

Once Tony began talking about it, he couldn't seem to stop. He kept rambling on when tears burst from his eyes. He continued as his hand went up instinctively to protect his neck. He even went on and ignored Maria as she wiped tears from his cheeks and told him it was okay, that he could stop. When he finally did stop he took several heaving breathes. She ran into the other room, retrieving the red knitted blanket Tony loved so much and wrapped it around him. Tony gripped it tight as Maria pulled him close and rocked him gently, singing something she hoped would soothe him.

Tony calmed down quickly, wiping his face and evening out his breathing. He removed himself from Agent Hill's embrace and chuckled softly. He picked up his abandoned box of chow mein and shoved another forkful into his mouth.

"You know, now that I'm done crying I actually do feel a little better. You're a smart lady." Tony muttered softly, still trying to calm his breathing.

"I told you, it's better not to ignore it. And promise me you will never start drinking, kid." She said. Tony agreed and she patted his back before taking the empty Chinese boxes and going towards the trash. She came back, plopping down next to him. "Want to talk more?"

"No, I think I've had enough for today. Maybe if you come back next week we can talk about your traumatizing SHIELD missions and how I'm terrified of messing up and making everyone hate me." Tony said, shrugging. Maria laughed.

"If you really want to. Be sure to also talk about this stuff in all of your therapies." She said firmly, Tony nodded. "Good, but first you have to tell me how you managed to get Barton and Romanov to go on an actual date. Usually they just take two agent missions."

"I told them I'd go to group therapy if they took one day a week to spend time alone together." Tony said.

"You blackmailed them?" Tony shrugged as Maria looked at him, jaw hanging open. "You blackmailed Hawkeye and the Black Widow?"

"Well, I've been blackmailing all of the Avengers since I moved in. How do you think I got my mom into rehab instead of jail?" Tony smiled.

"Kid, you're my new hero. I see why Coulson likes you so much." Maria laughed.

"He does?"

"Yeah, you're like his little Coulsling." Maria laughed. "Now, where's the xbox?"

When Clint and Natasha got home from their dinner they were relieved. They had worried half the night about Tony and they came home to him and Hill sitting on the couch yelling strategies at each other as they killed aliens on some video game. They laughed and sat down, picking sides to join them.


	36. Chapter 36

Tony didn't sleep much anymore. He was tired of the nightmares and waking up usually thinking he was back there and being too terrified to do anything. Sometimes, on better nights, he woke up from a nightmare just feeling worthless and guilty for dumping all of his problems onto everyone good he ever met or turning his life into this. So he would stay up and curl under his blankets and wait for morning.

He didn't really feel like leaving the house. He wanted to stay at home and watch tv while signing with Clint and Natasha and just lay on the couch all day. But they went on their date night and he promised to go to group therapy and there was only so many times he could promise to go tomorrow. He put on a thick, dark shirt to hide the arc reactor. They packed him into the car and drove down to the community center. It was a rundown building with graffiti covering the walls, but they had large signs outside welcoming visitors.

Clint and Natasha were going out shopping, said they would be back as soon as he his group ended. They gave him the room number and he waved them goodbye. The building looked nicer on the inside than it did on the outside, all the halls were clean with colorful banners and flyers on the walls.

He entered the room his group was supposed to be in, frowning at all of the posters with their inspirational messages. There was a table in the corner with cookies and coffee and all the chairs in the room were placed in a circle. Of course, chairs. He walked up to one, frowning. There was nowhere else to sit in the room. The circle was filling up, everyone taking their seats and waiting for the meeting to begin. He looked around at everyone quickly before pushing his chair back quickly and sitting on the ground. He desperately ignored the shiver he got when he touched the cold metal of the chair and the confused, curious looks from everyone else.

"Alright everyone, my name is Tyrone Williams. I'm a therapist over at the VA. I see some new faces and some old faces, this is great." A man said, standing up to address the group. "Why don't we go around the room and say our names, why we're here, and how we're feeling today." And then it started, everyone stood up to say who they were, what trauma happened to land them in a PTSD support group, and the varying degrees of how they were feeling. They went down the line until it was Tony's turn. He stood up, glaring at all of them because they kept staring at him.

"My name is Tony." He said. He hoped Agent Hill was right, that talking to strangers was easier and made it better. "I was kidnapped. I guess I'm feeling fine today." Tony said, sitting down. That was a half lie, he was feeling tired and empty. He would prefer a good day where he felt happy and normal, but he would rather this than how he felt on his bad days when he was curled up under his bed terrified, anxious, and his mind telling him he was hopeless and will always be broken. This was fine compared to that.

The group had every kind of person. Some were older and others were just teenagers like him, with every sort of tragedy and story to tell. He listened to most of the stories, people giving somewhat detailed accounts of what happened and how they felt before and how they feel now. A lot of the stories Tony understood. Where people were hurt and still spend their days still afraid it will happen again. A lot of people talk about how they managed to regain control of their lives and stop living in fear. Tony didn't much care about those ones, they seemed a bit preachy and he didn't think he could have that.

"If I have to listen to one more of these happy 'never give up' speeches I'm going to throw up." The woman sitting next to him said. Tony looked over at her. She was older than him by a few years and bored, tapping her feet. Tony just shrugged. "It's your turn." She whispered again a few moments later. Tony looked up quickly, everyone was looking at him and waiting. He stood up slowly.

"Um. I don't know what to say." Tony said. He avoided everyone's gaze and instead looked out the window.

"You can say whatever you like, Tony. Most people, on their first day like to talk a little about themselves. Some like to jump right in and talk about what happened to them and how it makes them feel." Tyrone said, smiling up to him. "Do whatever feels comfortable." Tony nodded.

"Well, first I don't feel like being here. I just promised my um…. parents… I would come." Tony muttered. He could just talk about his hobbies or how well he's doing in school, but that felt like a copout and he hadn't gotten enough sleep recently to think of anything other than what happened to talk about. He talked to Agent Hill, he talked to Dr. Moreno, and sometimes he even talked to the team so he would talk here. "Well, uh. I was walking home from my friend's house and I was grabbed off the street. They drugged me so I woke up in a basement, tied to a chair with my head covered so I couldn't move or see. They were just…. two guys who liked hurting people. They left me down there for hours and everything hurt. The first time they came down they broke my arm, it was already hurt, but they just kept squeezing it and I couldn't do anything but lean away into what was tying me down. It hurt, but it took my mind off of my arm. Then they knocked me out and when I woke up again I was just left sitting there. For hours, tied down and in the dark and I honestly thought I was down there for days. When they came back, they dragged me out of the basement, into the rest of the house. They shot me twice in the kitchen and then left me there. I did manage to set the place on fire and then, um, emergency responders arrived and I was rushed to the hospital." Tony muttered quickly. He tried to pretend he was telling a story he read in a book or saw on tv, not something that happened to him. But the flashes of memories kept playing in his mind. It was a bad idea, he knew it was better to stay home and do nothing. He didn't want to do this.

"And how do you feel about all of that, Tony?" Tyrone said, catching Tony's attention. He looked around quickly at the rest of the group, waiting for him to speak.

"I don't know how I feel. Just like it's taking over my life and I either feel scared or anxious or sad or nothing. Then there are the times I feel happy and normal and I think I'm getting better but then I'm just hiding away again because I'm scared it'll happen again." Tony said, watching the other people in the group nod along slowly.

"And how are you feeling right now, after you shared with us your experience?" Tyrone asked calmly. Tony shrugged.

"Tired, I guess. Angry. Little bit." Tony muttered.

"Anyone else have something they want to add?" Tyrone asked, looking around the group. The woman who sat next to Tony raised her hand. "Yes, Lei."

She stood up and looked at Tony, smiling calmly. "Little man, that was some hardcore shit. Of course you feel scared and angry. But you set those bitch's house on fire and got away, you did something. You're capable of saving yourself. Understand?" She said firmly. Tony nodded.

"Thank you, Lei. The language was a wonderful touch." Tyrone laughed. He turned to Tony. "Is that everything you wanted to say?" Tony nodded and sat back on the ground.

Lei talked next. During a home invasion a few years ago her father was killed. She said she was angry that the men who did it had gotten away and sometimes still afraid they would come back for her and her mother. She said she was coping well, though. Tony liked her, she cursed a lot.

Once the meeting, Clint and Natasha were waiting outside in the parking lot. He jumped in the car and waited for them to drive off. Nat nodded at his seatbelt, sighing he put it on.

"How did it go?" Clint asked once they started driving. Tony shrugged. "Did you talk at all?"

"Yeah, I just gave the civilian safe version of what happened and sat on the floor the whole time." Tony said, looking out the window. "All they had were chairs."

"Oh, sorry about that." Natasha said, pulling up in front of the apartment. "Do you want us to find you a different group?" Tony stopped to think. He really didn't want to describe what happened again to a whole new set of strangers and what that girl said really did make him feel better. But he didn't like it, looking back at the meeting as a whole.

"No, I just don't want to go anymore." Tony muttered. "You guys don't have to do date night anymore if you want." He walked into the elevator in their building, waiting for one of them to push the number four button.

"Nah, we actually had a great time doing normal things." Clint said as the doors closed. "We went to some Italian place for dinner, then ice cream after, and then went to the park and loosened all the screws on the benches so they'll fall apart once someone sits on them." Clint laughed. Tony looked at Nat accusingly, she just shrugged.

"If you don't want to go back, we won't make you." She said. As soon as they reentered the apartment Tony went to his room, collapsing on his bed and curled up in his blankets. He felt like this was where he should have been all day, not doing anything. He just wanted to be wrapped in his warm blanket cocoon. He had felt a weird numb feeling all day and it felt natural to just lay down and block out the world.

"What do you want for dinner?" Clint asked from his bedroom door. Tony didn't bother answering, he didn't even feel like eating. He laid there for a few more minutes, waiting for Clint for leave. He didn't, Clint just came into the room and sat next to him on the bed, stroking his hair and waiting for him started feeling normal again.


	37. Chapter 37

"Tony, your parents have been calling me all week because they're worried sick about you. First you lock yourself in your room for hours and try to run away. They tell me you lay around all day and hardly ever go anywhere." She said softly. "How have you been feeling?"

"They're not my parents." Tony muttered, looking down. "I'm fine. I'm just tired so I stay in bed. And I went to that group therapy and didn't like it."

"How have you been sleeping?" Dr. Moreno asked. She looked at him kindly, Tony didn't feel like lying to her. He also didn't really feel like saying he hardly ever slept at all anymore, maybe a few hours a night if that.

"Not good." Tony said, his voice lowering.

"Why don't you tell me about it?" She leaned forward and asked softly.

"Well, it won't stop. I keep having these horrible dreams about everything. Like it's happening all over exactly or just a mashed together version of what happened. I wake up feeling horrible and I either stumble around the house until morning or hiding away. So I stopped going to sleep. I don't know why, I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore and stopped falling asleep." Tony frowned. "I do fall asleep for a little bit, most nights. And I spend my days numb and tired, lying in bed and blocking out the world."

"Do you want to tell me how you feel when you wake up from a bad dream?" She asked.

"I don't know. It depends. Sometimes I don't know where I am, I think I'm back there. I feel terrified and I'm trying to run away so I don't get hurt again. I always end up in Clint and Natasha's room when that happens, I don't know how. They take care of me then." Tony said. Dr. Moreno smiled again. "Sometimes I waked up and know where I am but I can't stop feeling scared so I hide under my bed with a lamp and wait until morning so I can lay down on the couch. Other times I just feel wake up and feel empty and exhausted but I can't go back to sleep so I just walk around the place and look at everything until someone wakes up to sit with me. Now I just lay in bed all night and wait until morning."

"And how are your eating habits?" She asked. Tony tilted his head, confused. "Don't worry, this is important."

"I haven't really been hungry, but Nat makes sure I eat all my fruits and vegetables. She's like Bruce, only she also lets me have snacks too." Tony shrugged.

"Well, that explains why you don't seem to be hiding the candy I gave you." She laughed. "Tony, you may be depressed. Depression is quite common in those with PTSD." Tony nodded slowly.

"Oh, alright. That sucks." He muttered. Certainly she couldn't be serious. He was just feeling a bit tired was all.

"I want to write you a prescription for-"

"No." Tony said quickly, shaking his head. "I don't take drugs." Dr. Moreno nodded.

"Do you want to tell me why that is?" She asked softly. Tony hesitated. He always like Dr. Moreno, she always smiled at him, was always kind, and every look she gave him and ever sentence she spoke was soft and gentle and made him feel like it was alright.

"My mother." Tony whispered. "She took pills whenever she was upset with my dad. Eventually she just went away and started putting that horrible stuff in her and left me alone. I don't want to leave like that." She nodded, waiting for a few minutes.

"Alright, but I do want you to try activities that may help you fall asleep. Will you do them?" She asked. Tony nodded quickly.

OOOOOO

_"I hate you."_ Tony signed as he did another sit-up. He had another sleepless night and today was being filled with activities to help him. They weren't allowing him to drink coffee, they took him for a walk out in the sun, Natasha had started to teach him Russian, they refused to let him nap, and now Clint was making him exorcise, five hours before going to bed. There was only so many jumping jacks and squats he could do before his leg started hurting. They didn't stop though, Clint just moved on to different exercises. Rhodey stopped by to laugh at his pain and see who could do more push up. Tony did five. Rhodey stopped counting after twenty. Tony didn't think it counted, he was just a science nerd and Rhodey was joining the military. Rhodey had to leave shortly after.

"Now Tony. You can't expect to be sleeping better right away. These things take time. You have to look at the big picture." Natasha said, signing at the same time so Clint could understand. Tony nodded, he was already feeling exhausted and luckily he didn't have to do anymore exercising today. "We're just starting you out on a routine that will help you in the long-term."

_"You mean, we're going to do it all again tomorrow?"_ Tony sighed. More exercising? This is not what he wanted. The only exercise he needed was waving his arms about to sign at Clint.

"Yes, hopefully you pick up Russian as quickly as you did sign language." Natasha smiled.

"We also have to work on your upper body strength." Clint laughed, pulling Tony up off the ground. Tony groaned loudly. He didn't need to work on his upper body strength. He was in the mood for taco bell, so that's what he needed. They should be thankful his appetite was back.

Tony didn't end up sleeping that night. Or the next few nights after that. He did, however, end up passing out a week later. It was around bedtime and he didn't think he would be able to fall asleep so after half an hour of lying in bed he joined Clint and Natasha in the living room. His head ended up in Natasha's lap and his feet were laying across Clint and they sat there for a few hours letting him sleep while she stroked his hair.

Clint carried him off to bed, tucking him in carefully so he didn't wake him. Although Tony didn't sleep all night, he slept longer than he had in a long time. He went about his day a bit happier and less groggy and could say six curse words in Russian, gaining mix feelings from Natasha.

OOOOOO

Tony had been doing everything Dr. Moreno had been telling him to do for about a month and he was finally sleeping through the night. His nightmares were less often and he no longer felt like lying in bed all day, not that Clint and Nat would let him do that. What Tony figured was the best part of all, was that Clint and Natasha were happier too. They said they were going to go do date nights again, much to Tony's pleasure. He liked that they were doing things for themselves again.

When Agent Hill arrived, she was given the same instructions as last time on how to take care of Tony if he had an incident. She was also to make sure he went to bed at ten, no later or else it will mess up his schedule. Clint and Natasha hugged Tony goodbye and went out to go eat and watch some spy movie they planned to point out everything they could have done better.

"How are you feeling, my little Coulsling? Hopefully happy and healthy." Maria said, plopping down on the couch and turning on the tv.

"Pretty good actually. It's been a while." Tony smiled, jumping onto the couch next to her. "Can we watch something normal, in English?" He asked. She laughed, nodding her head and changing the channel.

"Have you ever seen 'How I Met Your Mother' because it's a great show and I swear one of these women look just like me." Maria said, pointing up to the tv. Tony had seen the show. He didn't really see the resemblance so he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever." Hill laughed. "You know, I'm really glad you're feeling better. Everyone back at base has been freaking out worrying about you. You're getting enough sleep?"

"Yeah, they're making do all this stuff that's supposed to help people sleep like eating a bunch of carbs and exercising a lot and getting sunlight and going to bed at the same time. They're so pushy." Tony said, smiling. "Sometimes I just feel like lying in bed and dying, but they just keep dragging me out and making me do stuff. It's terrible." Tony said fondly. He was about to go on about their stubbornness to help him when his phone started vibrating. He paused for a second to look at the number he didn't recognize before answering.

"Tony, my darling boy. They're letting me out an-" Tony hung up quickly. His mother had been ignoring him for months, why was she calling now. Why did she call him that? The last time she called him 'her darling boy' was when he was Howard had broken his arm when he was nine. He recognized the feeling he was getting, like he was going back and getting locked into the memory. He'd spent weeks practicing so he could recognize when he was going into a flashback and then do his best to ground himself. All that knowledge just seem to leave him the moment his mother's cheerful voice called him up and acted like it hadn't been months since they last seen each other, let alone spoke.

A pain shot up his left arm as he stumbled out of the room. He didn't think it was real, but he did what he always did when he knew his mind was taking him away. He went to Clint and Natasha's room. They weren't there to hold him and ask him what was happening and guide him back home, so he curled up on top of their bed. He cried at the cold feeling of hands gripping his arm that pulled and squeezed until it broke. He couldn't quite pin down who it was, sometimes Howard and sometimes Stane but it was constantly changing between the two.

Someone kept touching him, Tony tried desperately to push them away. A broken arm was enough for today he didn't need anything else. They wouldn't stop so he kept crying, begging to be left alone. Something cold and wet was in his left hand. Was he bleeding? No, if he was it would be warmer. He lifted his head quickly. It was ice. Why was he holding ice? He dropped it and looked around quickly. His eyes fell on Maria Hill, she was a highly trained SHIELD agent.

"Make them go away." Tony whispered, clutching his left arm and tucking his face away again.

"You have to tell me who Tony. I'll kick their ass." Maria said, trying to pull him to sit up. She frowned as he pushed her away again.

"Howard and Stane. I don't … my arm." Tony whimpered. Maria nodded.

"It's done. They're gone. Kicked their ass with speed no one has ever seen." She said. She leaned in closely to him. "Now, Tony, you have to tell me where you are." Tony lifted his head to look around, he was still cradling his arm and looked at everything as if it were going to jump out at him.

"Clint and Natasha's room." He said, laying back down.

"Are you safe here?" Maria asked. Tony nodded. She sat with him for several minutes until Clint and Natasha came home.

"Coulson called us. Tony's mom was released from rehab and has been asking for him. We came straight home to talk to him." Clint said quietly, looking around the apartment.

"Well, that's probably who called Tony and freaked him out, thinking people were hurting him again." Maria sighed. "He's in your room, I think I calmed him down." Natasha walked off towards the room, leaving Hill with Clint.

"She called him? No warning or anything!?" He whispered angrily.

"It was probably her. How does she even have his number?" Maria asked.

"When we bought Tony a new phone we managed to let him keep his old number. For his friends and stuff." Clint sighed. "She must have known it." Natasha walked back, frowning deeply.

"He kept asking me why she stopped ignoring him. Then he locked himself in his room." Natasha said. "Either I pick that lock, demand answers, and then comfort him, or you guys tell me why he's upset."

"We think his mom called him. Same day she was released, Tony gets a phone call and it upsets him." Clint groaned, rubbing his face.

"So she doesn't bother trying to contact him once the whole time she's in there, but the moment she gets out she wants to be his mother again." Natasha said bitterly. "She has no right."

"She is his mother." Maria sighed.

"I'm his mother, I did more for him than she ever did." Natasha barked. "If she wants him she'll have a hell of a fight and we all know who will win." Clint frowned, looking down at his feet.

"But, what if when Tony calms down and feels better he wants to go live with her? What do we do then?" He said. "If we keep him here and he wants to go then he'll hate us and he'll be unhappy. If we let him go with her, he might be happy but we all know she can't take care of him." Agent Hill excused herself for the night, going home. Clint and Natasha stayed up, waiting around for something. They did end up picking the lock to Tony's room, finding him curled up under his bed fast asleep. It's where he always went when he was scared or anxious. Clint pulled him out gently and tucked him in.


	38. Chapter 38

It was one of those days where Tony didn't want to get out of bed. He didn't have those days as often anymore, but sometimes he still got that empty feeling mixed with the occasional sad and worried and he didn't feel like moving. Of course, those were the days Clint would drag him out of bed and sit out in the sun with him on the fire escape, Natasha would make his favorite breakfast, they would just continue about their day as best as they could.

"Maybe she shouldn't come today." Clint sighed as Tony plopped down on the couch and turned on cartoons. The teen curled up in the corner of the couch and sighed.

"She can come over today. I'm fine." Tony said quietly.

"She has to come over today. It's scheduled that Maria Stark gets to spend time with her son today. We're just lucky we get to be there." Natasha said, chopping up vegetables angrily. Clint walked over to the kitchenette, leaning towards her.

"Tony's not up for it today." Clint said, frowning over at the boy who was still curled up on the couch, not giving them or anything else any attention at all.

"There's nothing we can do but try to make sure she behaves herself, I don't trust her parenting." Natasha said, throwing the vegetables into the pan. "This is mandatory, but if Tony gets any more upset than he is now, you take him into the other room. I'll make her leave."

"Without killing her." Clint pressed. Natasha sighed, smiling slightly.

"Well, I'll do my best."

An hour later, she arrived. Tony snapped to attention quickly, staring at the door. Clint walked over to the couch, sitting next to him and gave a reassuring smile. Natasha opened the door and gave her best 'I'm not planning on killing you' smile. Maria Stark looked more like she was dressed for a job interview than a visit with her son, but she smiled brightly, nodded at everyone and rushed over to him.

"Tony, my baby. It's been far too long. I can't wait to tell you all about these last few months. I met the nicest people. Oh, I wish they would let me take you out somewhere for our first visit, not that I'm not excited to meet the people who have been… watching you." She said, smiling brightly down at Tony. "I missed you so much." She leaned down and hugged him. Tony hesitated, he had never seen his mother so cheerful and happy.

"I missed you too." Tony muttered into his mother's shoulder. Tony didn't like how his mother hugged, squeezing hard and letting go too fast, not like the gentle hugs that lasted for as long as he needed them too with Clint and Natasha, but his mother was hugging him and that hadn't happened in six years so he found them amazing.

"You will not believe the last few months I've had. The facility I was at was amazing, they had so many activities to join in on and then you had individual and group therapy a few times a week. It was so hard on me, a lot of people were sneaking drugs in and there was one man in a suit, Phil, who came by to visit me often to tell me all about how you were doing and said that if I didn't get better I would be stuck in there and not be able to get back to my family." She said, sitting down on the coffee table to sit across from Tony.

Tony smiled and nodded as she continues to babble on and on about her stay in rehab. He only half listened, still in shock that she was actually here, talking to him. He wondered if maybe it wasn't really her. It looked like a younger, healthier version of the woman he used to live with so he wondered if maybe she was a shapeshifter. He chuckled slightly at the thought, ignoring how sad it was that he thought it was more likely that a shapeshifter would come visit him than his mother. A few minutes later she finished, waiting awkwardly for anything more to be said.

"Well?" Clint said. Maria raised her eyebrows as Clint frowned at her. "Why don't you ask Tony anything?" He sighed.

"Oh, yes. How are you? Are you eating? You haven't touched your dinner." Maria said, pointing at Tony's plate full of vegetables and rice. He shrugged, he just didn't feel like eating much today. "Well, you certainly seem healthy enough so I won't fret. Tell me about your friends. Tell me about everything big that's been happening with you." Tony just sat quietly. The only friend he ever saw anymore was Rhodey and that was on days he could manage to come over. Tony understood that was Rhodey had other stuff to do, it actually made him happy. Tony didn't want to talk about the big things in his life. The big things in his life were sleeping through the night, coming down from panic attacks by himself, or getting out of bed on days like this. Tony sighed, what did he do to let the big things in his life become nothing?

He shrugged. "Rhodey's doing well. He's graduating early and joining the air force." Tony said. "Not really doing much that big in my life that needs to be mentioned."

"No no. You have a lot to be proud of Tony." Natasha said, moving up behind him to mess with his hair.

"Then you talk about it because I can't think of any." Tony sighed. His mother wouldn't care about any of that stuff. Clint and Nat counted his accomplishments in getting out of bed and eating breakfast, being able to do more pushups than a few days ago, or just ranking his daily mood above a five. The last thing he wanted was to bore her with that.

"No, you talk about it when you're ready." Natasha said, moving to sit back on the other side of Clint.

"Well, darling. I'm back living in our old place and Phil, the man I told you about, I think he's in charge of your case with the child placement agency or whatever, anyway he helped me find work down at a diner. If things go well, you might be able to come back and live with me." Maria said excitedly. "Wouldn't you like that?"

Tony stared at her. Of course he wanted to be with his mom, she was back and lively and talking to him again. But what if she went away again? He could take care of her, of course. Even if he was alone he was sure he could do it. He thought he was managing everything well enough, he could do it on his own. He wouldn't be burdening Clint and Nat and the team anymore and if he was having a bad time he could go to his room and not bother his mom at all.

But Clint and Natasha said that he could stay with them forever after they got married. And then that way he would have the team. He was only with them in the beginning because of Hammer and now that that was over he was with them because he couldn't be at home. Now it seemed like he could be, so if he moved out would he still get to see them? Tony couldn't make this decision.

He looked desperately at Clint, who nodded and quickly led him off to his bedroom. He collapsed onto his bed, curling up into his blankets and burring his head into the pillows. Clint laid down next to him, staring up at the ceiling and waiting.

"Well, this has been wonderful but it's getting late so you should probably leave before it gets too late." They heard Natasha say through the walls. Clint chuckled softly.

"Why? Is Tony okay, he just rushed out of the room. I don't even get to say goodbye." They heard Maria say.

"He's just a bit overwhelmed. It's been a long day." They could hear the growing irritation in Nat's voice. "Schedule another time, see you then." They heard the door slam shut and several moments later Natasha joined them in Tony's room. She smiled at the two of them, walking around to the foot of the bed and sliding up to lay on Tony's other side against the wall.

"I don't know what to do." Tony said quietly, his voice muffled by the pillows.

"You don't have to do anything." Clint said.

"What if I leave and I don't see you guys anymore?" Tony said, rolling over to stare at the ceiling with the two spies.

"You can't get rid of us that easily." Natasha said calmly.

"What if I stay and I don't see her again?" Tony frowned. He did want to be with her, he wanted his mother back. Like when he was little and he got hurt she would hold him and tell him it would be okay. He wanted that again with her. But if he thought about it, he had that here.

"If she doesn't want to visit then she's not worth it." Natasha said. He nodded, rolling back over to hide his face in his pillows and cover every bit of him in blankets.

Clint got a book from their room, handing it over to Natasha. She began reading quietly to her boys in Russian. It took longer for Tony to fall asleep than usual, but he stayed asleep and didn't dream. They crept back to their room, collapsed on their bed, and worried about the possibility of Tony leaving them.


	39. Chapter 39

The next time Tony Stark was visited by his mother, she was allowed to take him out without the watchful eyes of Clint and Natasha. So they did what they thought was best, asked Rhodey to go with them. He was all too pleased to join them on their day out, mostly so he could protect Tony and glare at Maria. Rhodey still felt guilty he hadn't known hoe truly terrible Tony's parents were until after Tony moved out, but he would make sure it wouldn't happen again.

Maria took them to the diner she worked at, smiling at them both and ignoring Rhodey's glares. They picked a booth, Tony sliding in first and staring out the window at the traffic. Rhodey slid in next to him so Maria would have to sit across from them.

"Tony, I can't wait for you to see how I'm redecorating our apartment. It's so much livelier. I've also taken the liberty to rearrange your room. You had so much junk piling up and papers. All those random bits of metal, Tony, it was dangerous." Maria smiled.

"You changed my room?" Tony asked. "I had plans for all that scrap metal." He liked his room the way it was. And all that scrap metal he was planning on building a robot out of. He had plans drawn up and everything he just didn't feel like going back to get it yet. Now he had to start all over again.

"Yes, dear. Don't worry. I just threw out the garbage, moved your books off of your ground, why did you have so many anyway? Nevermind, I just moved them to your closet so you can go through them when you get back and decide which ones you don't want." Maria said, smiling still. Tony sighed and returned to looking out the window, this was his first time eating out in a long time and he wanted to people watch. Rhodey continued his glaring, much to Tony's amusement, until the waitress came.

"Hello, my name is Lei and I will be your- hey, little man!" The waitress said, pointing at Tony. "I remember you. You are real! You came to group that one time. You showed up for one meeting and was never seen again that everyone thought you were a ghost or something. Half the group sits on the floor now because they think you were doing some spiritual, down to Earth shit." Tony smiled at her, he recognized her too. The girl who cursed a lot. Maria looked between them confused.

"What group? You know Lei, Tony? I work with her, you know?" Maria said. Tony nodded, but Rhodey looked up at the waitress, smiling.

"Hey, I'm James. Little man's best friend." Rhodey said, shaking her hand. "You know, Lei is a beautiful name. It suits you."

"Yeah, you're doing that?" She said, lifting an eyebrow. Rhodey nodded. "Well, I'm going to take your orders now."

"Pie." Tony said, looking down at the menu. "Just a piece of every kind of pie." He said, nodding up to Lei. Rhodey sighed, ordering grilled cheese while Maria ordered a salad.

"You are going to crash so hard and if we're still out I'm not carrying you home." Rhodey laughed. Maria hummed quietly.

"So, Tony. Where did you meet Lei? I've been working with her and she seems nice. Her manners could use some work, but she isn't too bad." Tony shrugged.

"Just out. Honestly, Rhodey seems more into her than I do. I think she's pretty cool though." Tony laughed. "Which means if you do get somewhere with your embarrassingly bad attempt at picking her up, I'll be fine in hanging out." Rhodey nodded, smiling brightly at the idea of hanging out with Tony out of his apartment. This was the first time they had done that and if they could do it again where Rhodey didn't have to glare at his mother, he quickly continued doing that, then it would just be another great milestone for Tony.

"Well, you'll have to tell me all about it." Maria said, smiling as their food arrived. Tony dove into his pies and his mother began to drone on and on about all the happenings in her life and Rhodey continued to hit on Lei. Tony's attention was divided between the many flavors in front of him and the people that continued to walk past his window. He spent so much time back at his apartment with just Clint and Natasha with his visits from Rhodey and seeing Dr. Moreno once a week that he had forgotten how crowded the city was. It's not that he didn't mind being home, safe with the two spies. He actually preferred it to going anywhere but he was starting to think he should get out more.

"So, Howard called me this morning." Maria said, gaining Tony's attention. He made quick eye contact with his mother before turning quickly to Rhodey. Lei was leaning over the table, flirting back at Rhodey, confused at how he turned quickly towards Tony at the mention of Howards name. "He's doing well in prison, settling in nicely. He hopes it'll be a quick three years. And don't worry dear, he's not upset with you." Maria smiled. Tony stammered, looking about quickly.

"I- I don't care." Tony said, looking back down at his pies. "He can rot in there." Rhodey smiled, both at Tony's comment and the way Maria gasped at it. Lei excused herself, nodding at Rhodey.

"Tony, he's your father." She said. "I know what he did wasn't right, but you love him and you have to respect him." Tony shook his head. Clint and Natasha told him he didn't have to do anything. He couldn't deal with this at the moment. He didn't want to talk about Howard, he didn't want to talk about moving. He wanted to eat his damn pie.

"Drop it, Maria." Rhodey said, glaring at her harsher than he had all day. Maria looked at him with a hurt expression, but shrugged.

"I just thought it would be nice of him to know how his family is doing. Anyway, I'm thinking about painting the apartment. Tony, what color do you think is best, a light blue or yellow?" Maria asked quickly. Tony shrugged, focusing on his pie. "Come on, Tony. I have to for when you move back."

"He's not moving back!" Rhodey said, almost shouting. He looked around quickly and lowered his voice. "There is no possible way you can take care of him."

"How on Earth could you know that? I'm his mother." Maria said, setting her jaw angrily. Tony looked between them quickly, trapped between Rhodey and the wall.

"Well considering your track record of taking care of him, as his mother, I don't think you can handle it!" Rhodey said.

"Oh, and you think those other two can take care of him better than his mother can. They don't have children, they don't know what it's like to be a parent. Besides, I'm better now and I want my son." Maria said, stabbing at her salad.

"They have been doing a great job with him. They get him to eat, they get him to sleep, they help calm him down when he's upset, and they're good for him. You're not." Rhodey said. Tony looked around the diner quickly, if he could somehow get out of his spot he could get away from the fighting.

"I need to use the restroom." Tony whispered, sliding out of his seat and crawling under the table. He got up and sprinted towards the restroom, ignoring the calls behind him. He locked the door quickly and looked around. It was a clean bathroom except for all the graffiti drawn on the walls with permanent marker.

He sat on the floor next to the door, ignoring the knocks and apologies coming from Rhodey on the other side. Tony looked around reading all of the little messages written all over the walls. Several minutes later, the door unlocked and Lei rushed in. She smiled at him as she closed the door again.

"Escaping? I do that sometimes." She said as she sat down next to him. "What's up, little man?"

"My mom is arguing with my friend over whether or not it'll be good for me to move back in with her. I hate arguing so I came in here." Tony sighed. "Did you bring my pie?"

"That's a good move. I get that people need to argue to get out pent up frustrations, but some of us like to be in chill environments. Sorry, no pie." Lei said, smiling. "So if you don't live with your mom, do you live with your dad?"

"No! No no no. Absolutely not. Thankfully." Tony said quickly. She nodded.

"Then who do you live with?"

"Uh… foster parents." Tony said. Technically true. No need to mention the fact that his foster parents were highly trained assassins who were also Avengers and helped save the world on a regular basis. That would be weird.

"And they're giving you the choice to stay with them?" Lei asked. "Whatever government bitches are in charge of your case are fucking awesome!"

"Yeah. They're cool." Tony laughed. "I just don't know what to do."

"Little man, I'm going to give you the secret to life. Listen closely." She said, smiling wickedly as she leaned in closer. "No one ever knows what to do. We're all just winging it." She whispered.

"That's not helpful. You're not a helpful person." Tony said. Lei shrugged.

"Can't make your decisions for you." She said, leaning towards him.

"Well, I love my mom. She never hurt me. But she's just been… gone for a long time so I'm not sure. About anything. The people I'm with now are great. The take care of me and are just there when I need them. But they're moving on with their lives and they say they want me around for it but what if they change their mind." Tony sighed.

"Can't predict the future, but think really hard on who seems to care the most about you buddy." Lei said, head snapping towards the door as Clint came in.

"Hey, Tony. Rhodey and your mom are really sorry for arguing. You want to come out so we can go home?" Clint asked softly. Lei turned back to Tony and mouthed 'he's hot' before turning back up to Clint, who smiled and nodded.

Tony waved goodbye to Lei and walked out of the bathroom. Rhodey was sitting with Natasha at the booth, both of them looking angry and worried. Rhodey rushed up to him quickly, apologizing for starting a fight with his mom and handing him the boxed up leftover pies. Maria must have already left.

The drive home was quiet. Natasha was grumbling in Russian, Tony understood some of it and could tell she was angry at someone. Clint was eating the pie, said Tony had had enough and made a show of moaning loudly while he finished it off. Tony just thought about what he was supposed to do. He knew he was a bit messed up and hard to handle. He didn't want to keep bothering Clint and Nat and worrying them. He could be better with his mom. If he felt low he could just go to his room like he always used to and wait until he felt better again.

Clint and Natasha were getting married. They were changing and even if they wanted him now they might not later. If he was gone, they could go back to base and be with the team again. Tony was the reason the Avengers were separated and if he was gone then they wouldn't have to be anymore. Clint and Nat would be happy with that. They needed happy and Tony couldn't give them that.

"Guys, I think I want to move back in with my mom." He whispered.


	40. Chapter 40

"Coulson, we can't let him go." Natasha said angrily. "Every visit he's had with that woman hasn't gone well. We can't just expect him moving back there to be a good experience for him! I honestly don't know why he picked her in the first place." Natasha paced around Coulson's office, glaring at everyone in the room.

"I don't know either, but we told him he could decide. If we back out now he'll never trust any one of us again, let alone the two of you." Coulson said firmly. "He'll come back. He always does."

"But what if he doesn't, Phil? What if she breaks him? What if he starts drinking again or doing drugs or something?" Clint said, gaining the immediate and furious attention of Natasha. "We can't risk that."

"Or she could surprise us all and be a damn fine mother." Coulson said quickly. "This is what Tony wants. He made a choice, we have to trust him."

"He's fifteen years old, Phil. A few months ago his every meal was off the dollar menu." Natasha said sharply.

"We'll keep an eye on him. But we need you two here. The threat from the Ten Rings is larger than we thought." Coulson said. "According to our sources, they've been smuggling more weapons and soldiers into the area than we anticipated. We're expecting a much larger attach on the base and we need all of the Avengers here for when it happens." Clint sighed, he was tempted to run across the city and get Tony himself. Fuck the base, they needed to make sure Tony was safe. Natasha glared over at Coulson.

"How long until the attack?" She asked. The sooner they solved this problem the sooner they could go get Tony back.

"Soon. We also have information that they may be working with a group called AIM. Our undercover agents are doing their best to gain Intel on the leaders. We'll have this thing sorted out soon." Coulson promised. Clint nodded.

"We better." Natasha said, standing up.

They walked through the halls of the base, nodding at the people they recognized, before they went up to the Avengers floor. They walked out onto the living room where Steve and Thor were having an arm wrestling competition while Bruce kept score. When they saw the two agents, they smiled sadly.

"Welcome back. You'll find that everything is destroyed, but no one messed with your rooms, so there's that." Steve said, coming up to give them a hug. "How are you guys doing?"

"Well, I've had an amazing few weeks with Nat and Tony. We were just living and having a good time and Tony had a few low moments and we worked through it and he was finally starting to get better when she came back and now my boy is on the other side of town with a woman who isn't prepared to help him and I can't do anything about it!" Clint started ranting. Bruce quickly pulled him into a hug.

"It is the night in which our dear friend Bruce makes his fajitas and we eat together as a team." Thor said loudly. Of course, Monday was fajita night. Natasha nodded and sat down on the couch, still glaring at everything.

OOOOOO

Tony frowned at his mother's apartment. It was his parents place before he moved out and his dad was arrested so it looked pretty much the same, but the place seemed cleaner and the curtains were open, letting in all the light, and it sounded different. It used to just be the sound of the tv going and Howard. Now there was none of that and just his mother's constant chatter about how excited she was and how her day was going.

Tony didn't like how his room had changed. It looked too normal. He used to have all of his books piled up everywhere and boxes of spare parts and papers and now it just looked like a room. He opened his closet door where his mother had stored his books and dragged them out, leaving them in piles around his room. He frowned when he was done, he still had enough space to walk around freely. These weren't all his books.

"Mom, where are the rest of my books?" Tony called out.

"Donated them, dear. You had too many. There was no way you needed them all." Maria yelled back from the kitchen. Tony groaned, closing his bedroom door. He didn't like that she messed with his room. He picked up his wonderfully stupid hello kitty phone as it started going off.

"Hey, little man! It's your favorite waitress." Lei said.

"How? My number?" Tony mumbled. Honestly, was everyone he met a spy, they all seemed to have his number.

"Rhodes gave it to me. We were thinking about going to see a movie and wanted to know if you wanted to come." She said. "I'm thinking, something obnoxiously lovey dovey so we can make fun of all the corny dialogue. I'm driving."

"Sure. Sounds great." Tony said, looking around his room. "Can you do me a favor? While we're out can we stop by a bookstore? My mom got rid of my books and it's a disaster." He heard her make a considering hum.

"Alright, but you gotta tell me what's up with your whole floor sitting thing. I don't buy the spiritual, down to Earth idea." Lei said. Tony sighed, this girl was cool but she really pushed sometimes.

"I told you, tied to a chair for hours, don't like chairs." Tony said quickly. "Can we not talk about the one time I went to group anymore? My mom is still asking questions on what it is." Lei gasped, cursing loudly.

"Shit! I broke the first fucking rule! Confidentiality! Oh my god, I'm sorry Tony. I don't think sometimes and I get inappropriate." Lei said quickly. "I'll make it up to you. I work with your mom, I'll tell her it was like a knitting group or something."

"No, she'll ask me to knit her something and I can't do that." Tony laughed. "How about like a language learning group? I am getting pretty decent with Russian."

"Bitch, my Mandarin is amazing." Lei said. "I got your back. I'm so sorry. I'll totally buy your movie ticket and drive you to the bookstore. We'll make a day of it. Rhodes will have fun, if not he can suck it up. When do you want to go?"

"Now's as good a time as any. I just don't want to be in the house right now." Tony said, looking around the room that didn't seem like his. He'd get used to it. He'd already moved in and told Clint and Natasha goodbye. He couldn't change his mind now because of a stupid bedroom.

"Sounds good, be over soon. You're gonna have the best night of your fucking life and then you'll find it in your heart to forgive me." Lei said, letting a growing excitement show in her voice.

"Alright, see you later." Tony said, hanging up. He rolled off the bed and did his exercises. He had to do them often to help him sleep and help him feel better. Besides, he could do almost thirty pushups now. When he was done he walked out into the living room. "Mom, I'm going out with Lei and Rhodey later."

"Really? But you just got back! I thought we'd spend the day together." Maria said quickly. She frowned, but nodded. "Alright, have fun. But you still have to tell me where you met that girl. Such an odd coincidence." Maria said, climbing over couch towards him. "Come on. I have to know."

"No you don't." Tony said quickly, walking out the door. "Love you mom, bye." He sat on the steps of his building. He missed the other building where he lived with Clint and Natasha, it was nicer and more put together and they were there. But this was the choice he made, he was going to live with it.

Fifteen minutes later, Lei's car pulled up in front of the building with Rhodey yelling out the passenger window. He ran up to the car and climbed into the backseat. Lei jerked the car forward before he even managed to put on his seatbelt.

"You're trying to get us killed!" Tony cried out.

"Nah, you two just need to live a little." Lei shrugged. "I'm just driving."

"Like a maniac! Slow down, I thought you called me up so we could take Tony out for a good time, not kill him." Rhodey said as the car screeched to a stop in front of a red light.

"He's having a great time. Boring drivers are boring. First, lame movie we will laugh at, then Barnes & Noble, and then I vote ice cream!" She said, looking between the two of them. Tony nodded quickly, Rhodey agreed.

OOOOOO

Tony came home later than he expected, but he had a great time. Lei kept apologizing for breaking the confidentiality rule every time Rhodey stepped away, but the movie was terrible, hilariously so. Clint had given him back his SHIELD money so he bought as many books as he could fit into her trunk. Then they went for ice cream, Rhodey's treat this time because he kept apologizing for publicly arguing with his mother. Tony had a great day, they planned to go out and do it again soon.

Tony carried his books into the apartment. It was dark, quiet, and late. His heart almost stopped when he realized how late it was and he walked into that familiar living room. He shook his head, it was different now. He walked quickly to his room, dropping his stack of books heavily onto the floor with a smile before plopping back down onto the bed. He changed into his pajamas and went to sleep.

He was having a nightmare again. It was exactly like he remembered, Hammer and Stane looking between him and the laptop that wasn't working. They were blaming him, and technically he did make it stop working, and they were yelling at him for information he would never tell. Then Stane shot him. He felt the pain again and simply watched as his stomach covered in blood. Then he saw the bomb.

Tony shot awake again. He didn't want that to happen again. He rolled off his bed, comforter in hand, and stopped when he saw the boxes piled up under his bed that was blocking his path under there to comfort. He whimpered, hitting the boxes fiercely. He turned away, pushing himself into a corner and covering himself in his blankets.


	41. Chapter 41

"Mom, why is there stuff under my bed?" Tony asked. He didn't sleep much the past few days because every time he started to feel anxious he would try to go to his safe place under his bed and find it blocked off by an abundance of boxes.

"Oh, darling, it's your father's stuff. I had to put it somewhere so he still has it when he gets out." Maria said, turning on the tv to watch her old shows from the eighties.

"You're keeping his stuff?" Tony said, looking about the living room desperately for a distraction. Finally, he settled back on his mother. "I don't understand. You were throwing my stuff out."

"Well, in three years when he's released he's going to need his stuff for when he comes home. I assumed you would be bringing the extra stuff you got while you were gone, which you did. And you'll be moving out in a few years." Maria smiled at him, shrugging her shoulders. "Didn't my smart boy say he wanted to go to college?" Tony frowned at her. Howard's stuff had invaded his room, into the one place he felt safe when he started panicking. The last thing he wanted to think about is when that man got out.

"Just get it all out of my room please." Tony said, taking a deep breath as he turned back towards his book. "I don't want his stuff in my room."

"Tony, I think you're overreacting. It's just a few of his things." Maria said calmly. She turned towards him and reached out to brush a bit of hair behind his ear. Tony shook his head.

"No. No, I'm not. Howard was a bastard who ruined my life and here you are talking about making things better for him when he gets back… from _prison_. Excuse me for not wanting anything to do with his stuff and signing up to plan the freedom party for when he's out." Maria sighed, annoyed.

"If you want me to move the boxes, I will." She said, turning back to the tv. Tony looked back at his book, but couldn't focus on it. She said 'when he comes home'. He could understand if his mother was saving the stuff to give to Howard for when he got out, but what if she planned to have him just come back.

"Mom, are you planning on staying with him?" Tony frowned, not looking up from his book. He heard his mother sigh again, this time sad.

"Yes, Tony. He's my husband. I love him." She said.

"What about me?" He whispered. Of course she would choose Howard, how could he ever think she wouldn't.

"Of course I love you, I'm your mother! You're welcome to stay with us as long as you want." Maria said. Tony shook his head, closing his book and walking towards his room. He closed the door behind him quickly. He ran over to his bed, dragging each box out from under it. He was halfway tempted to just throw all of it out his window but if his mother wanted to stay with Howard, she could. It's not like he ever hurt her. Tony opened his bedroom door and threw the box's out. He locked the door quickly at his mother's frustrated gasp.

He turned back to his room, blocking out every thought that popped into his head. He focused on all the spare toasters, microwaves, and other scraps he pulled out of the trash or bought the pieces he needed with the leftover money he had. He was already half way through building something he thought would be incredible. All he had built was a robotic arm that would move around and grab stuff. He was building a small one right now, just came up to his waist but maybe he could build a bigger one in the future. He had attached on a camera so it could see what it would pick up, microphones so Tony could tell it what to do, and hell, maybe he'll just program it a personality. He had a laptop and didn't feel like leaving his room for a long time.

So he got to work, taking apart everything he could to finish building it. Even a broken laptop he found in a dumpster a few blocks away when he was looking for parts. He could use parts from that to put in the arm to hold its programing. Seeing how the arm was mostly done, just needed prongs to pick things up with, Tony decided to get to work on programing it. He wanted it to have personality, to be as close to alive as possible. He wanted the little guy to be caring, and goofy, and to be his friend.

He didn't feel like sleeping. So he was up all night coding and by sunrise his little robot wheeled around his room excitedly. It would point it's camera up close to Tony's face and then spin around happily. Then it would wheel around to inspect the room, knocking over many things along the way.

"You're an idiot." Tony laughed. "I'll just call you Dummy." He said, leaning forward with a screwdriver. He tightened everything he could, made sure all the wires were in properly before putting the outer covering on and then it was finished. He spent another hour adding the finger prongs so it could move pick up stuff.

Then he just sat around for hours, watching Dummy drive its way across the room and inspect everything. Every few minutes the robot would come back to Tony excitedly because it found a bit of dust or pile of crumpled papers it wanted to show him. When it started raining, Dummy went and sat by the window and watched it come down.

Then Tony managed to fall asleep. It was getting close to morning and he worked out all his frustration on building a robot that just wheeled around looking at everything like an excited puppy so he had nothing else to do but pass out on his bed with his tools. He woke up several times over the next few hours to loud crashing noises, glaring slightly at Dummy and then falling immediately back to sleep.

He woke up around two in the afternoon, the robot had taken to clearing off all the tools from his bed. It was picking them up gently and then dropping them loudly on the floor. Tony ignored it as long as he could until it tried to gingerly grab the tools wedged under him that he must have rolled onto in his sleep. He sat up, stretching and smiling as Dummy excited ran around the room.

"My mom gets off work in two hours." Tony said, opening his bedroom door to let the robot out to explore. "Just don't break anything." He said, sighing as he heard a crash. Whatever, he would fix that later. The little guy was just excited to discover the world.

At the moment all Tony cared about was fixing coffee, he hadn't been allowed to have any since moving in with the Avengers, except when Rhodey snuck him in some when they were distracted. Now was his chance. He made a full pot and drank straight from it, taking up Clint's habit of just skipping the coffee cup.

After a while, Tony sent Dummy back to his room to be plugged in, it had been running all day. Tony yawned, changing into the Thor shirt Coulson had given him and a pair of sweats. He walked out onto his fire escape, getting some sun like he was supposed to before going back inside to do work out. Supposedly, getting sunlight, eating healthy, and exercising regularly were supposed to help with insomnia and reduce the symptoms of depression. Clint and Nat had made him do it every day that it was a habit at this point. That and he did sleep through the night and feel better most of the time. However, lately he's just been feeling more stressed out. He finished and headed out into the kitchen for a drink of water, smiling at Maria as she came in from work.

"Look at you. You look like you've been in bed all day." She said, smiling back at him.

"Well, I was." Tony said before he gulped down his water.

"Oh, what's that?" Maria said, grabbing him and spinning him towards her forcefully. Tony tensed up for a second, nearly dropping his glass. She poked at the blue light shining brightly though his thin shirt. Tony groaned internally, he had forgotten to mention the arc reactor to her.

"I, uh, got hurt and this keeps a lot of bad stuff from messing up my heart." Tony said, lifting his shirt so she could get a better look at it. She frowned as she ran her finger over it.

"Oh god, Tony. It looks like it hurts. See, I knew staying with those strangers was a bad idea. Look what happened." Maria said coldly. "You should have stayed with me."

"Mom, you weren't well. And it wasn't their fault, they took care of me. It was someone else." Tony said quickly. She quickly pulled his shirt down and pulled him into a hug.

"I was perfectly fine. You just worry too much, sending me to a place to get better and not seeing how perfectly okay I was. But I did what they said and now we can be a family again." Maria said, squeezing tightly and walking towards her room to change out of her uniform. "Make something for dinner, okay?" She called back. Tony sighed as she walked away. He shook his head, how could she be so…. wrong? She wasn't fine before. Clint and Natasha were great with him. She shouldn't forgive Howard and let him come back. Tony was the genius so he was right about this. She had to be wrong.


	42. Chapter 42

Tony was back to his normal healthy sleeping habits. Thanks in part to getting out his anxiety in the safety he always feels tucked away under his bed and because if he had a nightmare Dummy would wheel up next to him and tilt its camera face what Tony thought of as concern. Also that stupid robot he built made sure to drag him to bed at ten o'clock every night. It even covered him up if he kicked his blankets off in the night.

"Wha? Fuck!" Tony groaned loudly, shooing the robot away from his face as it poked him. He looked groggily at the clock. "Yeah, it's eight in the morning. Thanks, buddy. Gotta get up at the same time. You keep me going." Tony mumbled, lovingly patting Dummy.

He stretched, yawning loudly before rolling back over and burying his face into his pillow. He sighed as he was pulled away from sleep by the light tugging at his shirt. He waved it away and sat up. He looked at the calendar, Friday. He was supposed to still be seeing Dr. Moreno, his mom said she would take him and do everything his therapist said he needed but didn't want to dump his problems on her like he did with Clint and Nat.

He stumbled out into the kitchen and started the coffee. It's what he needed in the mornings. He poured himself a bowl of cereal and looked at the clock, eight thirty. His appointment was at ten. He ate his breakfast, drank half the pot of coffee, and waited for Maria to wake up. After a while, Tony decided to just go to his room and get dressed. When she still wasn't up he knocked on her door. After a few minutes, he walked in. There she was, still asleep.

"Mom, wake up. We have to leave soon." Tony said, shaking her lightly. Maria rolled over, groaning as she rubbed her eyes.

"Leave? Where?" She asked.

"I have therapy. You know, you said you would take me." Tony said, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Honey, I don't think I can go today. I'm just going to go back to sleep." Maria said. She reached out and stroked Tony's hair quickly before letting her hand drop. "You go. Take the bus and have a wonderful time."

"My appointment is in twenty minutes. I won't ge-." Tony stopped midsentence, sighing. He smiled softly down at his mother. "Alright. See you later, I love you." He said, bending down and kissing her on the forehead.

He went to his room quickly to plug in Dummy before he left. He grabbed his keys, locked the door behind him, and ran out of the building towards the nearest bus stop. Then bus arrived ten minutes later. He stared out the window, shaking his leg anxiously as he waited for his transfer. He got onto another bus and held in his growing panic as it took him to his destination.

He stood outside the building, frowning up at it. He missed his appointment. He was starting to like seeing Dr. Moreno once a week and talking about all the things that bothered him. She helped, Tony knew for a fact that she did. He turned away and started walking back.

He knew it was a bad idea to try to walk all the way home, but he wasn't upset and he was known to not do smart things when he was upset. His leg was fully healed, but sometimes if he walked too much, ran for very long, did too many jumping jacks, or simply stood for too long it would start hurting again. He made it a full fifteen blocks before he had to sit down. He just couldn't walk any more. Then he did the only thing that came to mind. He called Bruce.

He wasn't sitting on the sidewalk for long and only a few creepy people tried to talk to him when Bruce finally drove up. Tony smiled brightly and limped over to the car.

"Hey, Brucie. You won't believe it! I built this super awesome robot in my room. It mostly just drives around and knocks stuff over and gets in my personal space, but it's still awesome. It's like living with a child." Tony said quickly, buckling his seatbelt and he continued to smile at Bruce. The doctor just frowned at him, worried.

"Tony, what are you doing just sitting out here by yourself?" He asked, looking the boy over for any injuries. Seeing that he was fine, he leaned over quickly and gave him a long hug. "Are you alright? I haven't seen you in so long." Tony nodded, squeezing Bruce gently.

"I know, that's why I called. Maybe we could go for some organic cabbage soup with some super health water or something." Tony laughed. "And I was just walking back from therapy thinking I should see my favorite Nuclear Physicist and my leg started bothering me so I sat down to wait for you." Bruce sighed.

"Where's your mom? You're supposed to have your parent or guardian with you at those appointments." Bruce said, furrowing his eyebrows. Tony nodded quickly.

"She was there. I told her I wanted to stay after to meet up with a friend. We're totally friends, you and me." Tony said. He elbowed Bruce and gestured to the road. "Now let's go find a farmer's market or someplace you'll love to have lunch. I'll tell you all about my robot." Bruce nodded and pulled off into traffic. "Did you tell anyone you were coming to get me?"

"You asked me not to." Bruce said, glancing over at Tony. "And no, sorry. I couldn't sneak out your red blanket without being suspicious." Tony nodded, looking out the window. "Any particular reason you didn't want the others to know I was coming to see you?"

"They wouldn't understand my cool robot." Tony muttered. He took a deep breath and then smiled. "I named it Dummy. It's just a metal arm with a camera and microphone so it can see and hear. Building it didn't take too long, but programing it took all night. Anyway, it's really cool." Tony said, still smiling over at Bruce.

"You stayed up all night?" Bruce asked. Tony let out a long groan.

"Not last night, a few nights ago. And I've been sleeping fine since." Tony said. "You all worry too much."

"Well, it sounds like a cool robot. I don't know much about mechanics but I'll have to check it out sometime." Bruce said. They pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant with a big sign showing the planet and a bunch of leaves.

Once inside Bruce sat down and ordered. Bruce made him drink this disgusting saffron tea and some sort of chicken burrito packed so full of vegetables that are supposed to be good for teenagers. Tony smiled, he missed Bruce food even though he hated it. He couldn't quite tell what Bruce was eating, but the man seemed to be enjoying it.

"Why do you eat all of this healthy crap anyway?" Tony asked, finishing up his meal and pushing his plate away.

"You know what they say, the body is a temple." Bruce said. "How's the nightlight in your chest treating you?"

"Doesn't hurt." Tony shrugged.

"So, how's living back with your mom?" Bruce asked. He paid for their lunch and headed back out to the car.

"It's okay. She works most days so I can just stay home and do whatever." Tony said. He wasn't going to go into the details. Like how he thought his mom didn't like him all that much or how he was having more and more panic attacks being at home. Bruce and the rest of the team always worried too much.

"Tony, you know if there is anything going on you can tell me." Bruce asked, glancing sideways at Tony.

"I know, but I'm doing fine." Tony said. Bruce nodded and started the car to drive Tony home.

"Alright, but if anything comes up."

"Everything is good. You guys don't need to worry." Tony said. Bruce pulled up in front of Tony's building. Frowning, he pulled the kid into a long hug. Tony held onto him for several minutes until he tapped him on the shoulder. "Gotta let me go sometime."

"Alright, but next time lets invite the rest of the team. They really miss you." Bruce said, smiling sadly as he waved goodbye. Tony nodded and exited the car.

He walked upstairs to his apartment. His mom still wasn't up, so he filled up a glass of water and went to her room. She was still there, sound asleep in bed. Tony shook her awake. She sat up groggily, smiled up at him, and drank the water.

"Thank you, dear. You're such a good boy." She said as she placed the glass down on the nightstand. She laid back down, humming quietly. Tony covered her, stroked her hair, and picked up her empty glass off the nightstand. That's when he saw it. He wasn't snooping or anything, just his mom's purse was sitting open right next to the cup and the little baggie was just right inside.

First, Tony was angry. She wasn't supposed to be doing this again. Tony put the glass down and sat on the floor. He couldn't stop the tears and cried silently. She was leaving him again. She was out of rehab for a few weeks and she was already leaving him again. This time he didn't even have Howard, he was completely alone.

Tony grabbed the little bag angrily and stormed out of the room. He glared at it as he marched his way into the bathroom. Maria was so willing to give him up, to give everything up for this. He knew she would just get more, he couldn't stop her, but he felt like he just had to get this little bit of it away from her. He opened it and held it above the toilet, about to flush it. Then he didn't. He gripped it tightly and turned away. He couldn't pour it out. He closed the little bag and held it tightly to his chest as he sank to the ground. Tony knew he should get rid of it, but this was something that his mother used to feel different and she preferred that to just living a regular life with him. He was curious.

Tony went to his room. Dummy had unplugged himself when his battery was fully charged and had somehow turned on his laptop and started streaming cartoons on Netflix. The robot greeted him, wheeling up and nuzzling him. Tony patted it gently before going to his closet. He opened the door and pulled a shoebox down from the shelf inside. He hid the baggie, buried under his old report cards in a shoe box sitting on a shelf in his closet. He didn't plan on using it, he just wanted to keep it.


	43. Chapter 43

When it came to the drugs stashed in Tony's room, his eyes wandered to his closet every so occasion. Although, he kept telling himself that if he couldn't see it, it wasn't there. He was completely failing in his attempt to ignore it and he had to get out of the house before he did something stupid. So he called Rhodey.

Rhodey and Lei met up with him at the Museum of Natural History. Lei wanted to see the dinosaur bones, Rhodey wanted to see the exhibit on great white sharks they had, and Tony was just happy to be out of the house. That and he noticed they had a new space show about dark matter in the universe. They were definitely going to that.

"You know they found out dinosaurs had feathers." Lei said to them as they walked past the fossils of a large T-Rex. "Like, brightly colored feathers to attract mates and shit."

"What? They did not." Rhodey said. "They had leathery skin. We all saw Jurassic Park." Tony laughed. He didn't know if dinosaurs had feathers or not, but he wasn't going to go to a movie made in the nineties for his information.

"They totally did." Lei said, she waved her hand a bit to catch attention. "Miss Curator! Did dinosaurs have feathers?"

"Recent discoveries have led us to believe that they did have feathers." The Curator said before she moved on in the exhibit. Lei stuck her tongue out at Rhodey and followed the group.

"Are you alright, Tony? You've been quiet all day." Rhodey said. Tony forced a smile, hating the concerned look Rhodey always gave him these days. Sometimes he wished he had told his friend he had just moved instead of the horrible truth about his parents and about being put with the Avengers. If he didn't know all of that then he would have never found out about Stane and Hammer and being hurt or any of the other bad stuff and he would stop looking at Tony with that worried look. Tony just wanted a normal day out with his friends.

"Yes, Rhodey. I'm fine." Tony said firmly. "I just can't believe we're checking out all of your boring sharks and dinosaur exhibits before checking out outer space." Lei groaned loudly.

"Space is boring. It makes no sense." She said.

"That is exactly why it's not boring!" Tony said excitedly. Rhodey smiled, glad to see him perking up while Lei just continued to groan and lean onto him, begging him to make Tony be quiet again. "And it's not that the universe doesn't make sense it's just that we don't understand it yet. We are still discovering so much about it every day and our knowledge of the universe is constantly expanding and it's amazing." Tony ranted. Lei stuck her tongue out while Rhodey just nodded along.

"Boring!" Lei said loudly. "Let me know when the aliens come back. Then I'll be interested."

"I think space is cool, Tony." Rhodey said, patting him on the back. "Don't mind her, she's just weird. Come on, let's go to the shark exhibit. Maybe we'll see them eat someone." Rhodey shrugged.

The Great White Shark exhibit was just as boring as the dinosaur one. Tony didn't see how Rhodey could get so involved in learning about a fish's bone structure, migration routes, and the slightly more interesting yet incredibly rare attacks on people. Luckily, Lei was just as bored as he was.

"So, you look like you've been on the verge of freaking out all day. What's your secret?" She asked, smiling up at him. Tony sighed, looking over at the very distracted Rhodey looking at videos of sharks hunting.

"Distractions. Why do you think we're here?" Tony said, returning her smile.

"Temporary solution. But, any idea of yours in which you take me and the hottie out to see dinosaurs is a good idea in my book. When you do start to panic, I find it very calming to just count my fingers over and over again." She said.

"I will try that." Tony nodded to her. "So…. are you two a thing yet?" Tony smiled.

"What? Me and Rhodes? Nah, he just likes me for my stunning good looks and expansive knowledge of prehistoric wildlife." Lei said, shrugging. "Besides, I'm not sure we would mesh well. I have this wonderful asexuality thing going on. Working pretty well for me." She elbowed Tony, yawning as the shark commentary droned on. Tony shrugged.

"I don't know. He seems really into you, might not even care about sex." Tony said, giving a slight cheer as the Curator finished and Rhodey walked over. "Yes! I mean- oh, over already? I guess now we get to learn about the wonders of dark matter in our universe." Tony jumped excitedly, running over to the space show.

Tony walked into the apartment feeling better. The dark matter exhibit had a video narrated by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Tony was so excited Rhodey and Lei suffered from second-hand embarrassment. He walked into the living room, happy to see his mother out of her room and smiled at her, until she looked up at him with teary eyes.

"Tony, don't touch my things." Maria said, incapable of keeping the shakiness from her voice. "You can't take my things. Give it back." She muttered, wiping away her tears. Tony frowned, shaking his head.

"No, mom. I can't this time." Tony said, frowning at her. "I can't give it back to you."

"Tony, my baby. I need it. Just for the weekend, alright?" She said. She wrapped her arms around him and rocked him quickly.

"It's gone, mama." Tony muttered. Maria sighed, pulling back quickly. He didn't have time to flinch as her hand flew suddenly across his face. Tony stood completely still, waiting. She had never hit him before and he was afraid to move, in case she was going to do it again. Tony bit his lip as he waited a few more seconds, it's not like she slapped him very hard. He could handle it if she hit him again.

"Tony, no no no. I didn't mean to do that. I'm just a bit upset." Maria said quickly. She brought her hands up to cup his face. Tony slunk away then. If she wasn't going to continue hitting him then he had no reason to stand here and listen to her almost apologize.

He marched off to his room quickly and locked the door behind him. Sliding down to the ground, he held his face in his hands and breathed heavily. Dummy pointed its little camera face right up close to his head and poked at him. Tony was going to take it as caring and concern and he patted the robot affectionately.

"You have my back, right?" He said, holding onto it as he buried his face against Dummy's side. "It's not like I can be a burden to you." Tony gave a long sigh and glared at his closet.

He walked slowly up to it, opening the door and pulling out his shoebox. He took out the little bag and frowned at the brown powder inside of it. She was so upset about losing this, his mom never once seemed this upset about being away from him. She was angry Tony touched her stuff when she throws his stuff out all the time. Tony stashed it in his pocket, tapped Dummy lovingly on the head, and went back out. Maria had retreated back to her room, thankfully. Tony quickly went for the bathroom and locked himself in.

He knew he could have done this just as fine locked away in his room, but he felt better not having Dummy watch. He knew it was stupid, but he knew he was stupid. Tony sighed, opening the little bag and pinching out a tiny bit of the powder. If his mother loved this stuff so much more than him, he wanted to see why.

At first, he didn't feel any different. So he figured he just didn't try enough. Several minutes later, he felt the feeling creep up on him. He felt happy, like every sad feeling and every pang of anxiety that was always bubbling up under the surface just disappeared. He laid his head back against the sink and let the feeling sweep over him.

Then he didn't feel so great. He turned suddenly and released the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Then he was mostly dry heaving, but the happy feeling still didn't leave him. He swayed slightly as he stood and rinsed out his mouth at the sink, thinking about what to do next. He was feeling not so great, so he would go to the place that made him feel better. He was feeling happy, so he should go to the place that made him even happier. Good thing that was the same place. Tony tucked the bag into his pocket and stumbled into his room.

"Fold up, little guy." Tony said when Dummy wheeled up to him quickly. The robot did as it was told, making itself smaller. Tony picked it up and placed it into his backpack. "We're going on a field trip." He left the top unzipped for Dummy to stick its camera out of and look around.

Tony left the apartment, every thought in his mind telling him he was an idiot and that it wasn't safe out there but he had someplace important he needed to be. He nearly fell down the stairs, which he didn't care about because he still had that worry free happy feeling. He started dry heaving again at the bus stop, which he also didn't care. His stomach started to feel like it was doing backflips, but it didn't hurt so Tony didn't worry. He just started feeling relaxed.

Dummy poked him in the face several times to stop him from falling asleep. Tony got off the bus at his destination, smiling up at the building. His arms and legs were feeling heavy as he dragged himself and his backpack up to the back door of the building. He remembered Clint showing him the maintenance entrance to the SHIELD HQ when he first brought Tony home to stay. When Tony was packing up to move back with his mom, he stole Clint's ID card just in case he wanted to come back. He smiled as the door accepted the card and let him in. He stumbled quickly down the hall, up the elevator, and out into the Avenger's floor.

Tony tried to be quiet then, he even shushed Dummy. He sat in the door to the maintenance hallway for several minutes, half falling asleep and half listening to the sound of the team arguing and watching tv in the distance. It seemed so normal, Tony missed it. He stumbled quietly towards his room.

Tony stopped when he opened the door. His room was exactly the same. They didn't get rid of a single thing, not his posters, not his books, not a thing. His precious red knitted blanket that Natasha had given him, that he forgot to pack when he left, was folded up on his bed. Tony unzipped the backpack and let Dummy out, who excitedly wheeled around the room to inspect everything. Tony collapsed onto the bed, wrapping himself in the blanket and without taking off his shoes he fell asleep, taking as many shallow breathes as he could.


	44. Chapter 44

Tony felt terrible when he woke up. His stomach kept turning and his head was pounding. He felt a wave of anxiety wash over him. He was still too tired to open his eyes and remembered what he did and for a second he thought he had gone away forever. He did the one thing he always swore he wouldn't and now he would disappear. He wanted to kick himself. Tony felt stupid, he didn't know what he was thinking. He didn't want to do it, he wasn't completely sure why he did.

Then he managed to open his eyes. Did he dream up months of his life? It looked just like the hospital room he stayed in when he was injured. Several balloons and stuffed animals shoved into the corner with Steve poking through it sadly. Clint was asleep on his left, head resting on the mattress as he clung to Tony's hand desperately. No one else seemed to be around. He hoped it was all just a dream. Tony couldn't live with himself if he actually took what he think he did. What if he couldn't stop? What if he just went away and slept all day? He couldn't do it anymore. The heart monitor started to scream around him, jolting Clint awake and catching Steve's attention. Tony didn't know what to say as he looked at them quickly.

"Did I miss the wedding?" He muttered. Clint groaned loudly and pulled Tony into a tight embrace, refusing to let go. Tony held on tightly to him, hiding his face into the archer's shirt. "I didn't like it. I'm sorry."

"You are so grounded." Clint sighed, running his hand through Tony's hair. The teen pulled away slightly, letting exhaustion pull him back onto the bed.

"You can't do that." Tony barked out. Steve pulled up a seat, sitting down on his other side and frowning. "Where is everyone?"

"Actually, he can." Steve said, he looked disappointed and sad. Tony didn't like it. If it was for the reason he thought, then he really didn't like it. "He is once again your legal guardian. Coulson is seriously thinking about cutting all ties to your family. Even if your mother does get well again, she can't have you back. Natasha had a lovely… chat with her after we found you. Bruce has been talking with every single one of your doctors for hours. Thor's been entertaining your robot." Steve said slowly. Tony felt like he was going to throw up.

"What did I do?" Tony felt like crying. God, he wished he was waking up and finding out the last few months were a dream. He would gladly heal from all of his Stane/Hammer injuries again.

"You overdosed, Tony." Clint said, rubbing his face in his hands. Tony couldn't stand looking at him, he thought the man was about to cry and he never looked like that. That and he looked just so… disappointed. "I- I don't know why you did that. What happened?"

"I don't know why I did it." Tony was crying then, he just felt like such an idiot. He breathed deeply, sobbing his words. "I was just so upset. My mom was doing it again and I took it from her and I wasn't planning on using any of it. I just hid it. And then my mom was begging for it back and I wouldn't give it to her. My mind just started racing, wondering why she loved that stuff so much more than me, it was like I was moving on autopilot and I locked myself in the bathroom and just took as much of it as needed until it started working. I started feeling wonderful and horrible and I packed up Dummy and came here. I don't know, I'm stupid. I'm sorry." Tony spoke quickly. Clint gripped his hand, telling him it was alright and that he wasn't stupid, while Steve look at him angrily.

"Tony, did she hit you?" Steve asked coldly. Tony was confused, he didn't say anything about that. He looked around quickly, finding his reflection in his room's window. He frowned at the two bandaids covering his cheek. He reached up quickly and ripped them off, gasping at the small scratches left there.

Then Tony did throw up. He pushed Steve away from him and threw his head over the side of his bed and let himself go. He felt Clint rub his back furiously and Steve, after jumping out of the way, brought him a glass of water and a towel to clean up.

"Okay, you are going to stay in bed for a few days. You're grounded until you're eighteen and I say you're well enough to go out and do things." Clint said, pulling Tony back to lay down again. "You're staying with us forever, no exceptions. And, no, we're not mad at you." Tony nodded slowly, laying back.

"Don't let me do that again." He whispered softly. "I don't want to go away."

Clint nodded, still holding his hand until Tony fell asleep. He was angry, looking up at Steve and feeling satisfied at how angry he was too. Tony was doing better when he left, he was sleeping through the night, had fewer nightmares and flashbacks, more good days than bad, and he moves back in with his mom and this happens.

The night before they were all just sitting around and watching Game of Thrones and talking about how much the hated Joffrey when some strange little robot wheeled in frantically and circled them on the couch. Natasha almost shot it. Then it rushed off down the hall where they followed it, confused. The door to Tony's room was open and there he was, curled up in his blanket and barely breathing.

Clint sighed at the memories. How did it get this far? He wouldn't let it happen again. Coulson came in then with Bruce. They both held the same expression of sad and angry Clint had. Steve finished cleaning up and excused himself. Bruce came in holding Tony's red blanket, he walked up slowly and laid it over him.

"Phil, he's not leaving anymore. No matter what he wants, he's staying with me." Clint said firmly. The agent nodded.

"Alright, Clint. He's yours." Coulson said, handing over the paperwork. "Romanov had quite the discussion with Mrs. Stark. She said she was very upset about Tony taking her… stuff away from her. She confronted him, she got physical, Tony locked himself in his room and she went to her room." Phil said sadly.

"I talked to Rhodey, Tony's therapist, and his doctors thanks to Clint giving permission for them to tell me everything. According to Rhodes, Tony's been acting a bit off for a while. Dr. Moreno says he didn't show up to his last appointment, which was two days ago. If you want what I think happened, he's just been building up stress until he finally broke down yesterday." Bruce said softly, looking over Tony's sleeping form. "The doctors found large amounts of heroin in his system. If Tony's little robot hadn't alerted us when it did he probably would have died right there in his room within the hour. They want to keep him here for a few days."

"Then I'll be in here for a few days." Clint sighed.

"We're still on high alert. Once he's cleared to leave, Barton will take him to another safe house." Coulson said.

"You want me to leave my fiancée behind? Tony adores her." Clint said, pausing at the two looked over at him. "Oh, yeah. Tasha and I are getting married and we're going to adopt Tony. Then we're going to be the best damn parents he ever had so shit like this doesn't happen again and he'll be a happy fucking teenager." Clint said angrily.

"Congratulations." Bruce said. Coulson nodded.

"I'll start up on the paperwork. I suppose you and Natasha will be adopting him?" Coulson asked. Clint nodded quickly. Coulson turned to leave and Bruce followed quickly. Clint stayed, watching Tony sleep quietly until Natasha arrived an hour later.

"So how did your chat with his mother go?" Clint asked, smiling up at her.

"Productive." Natasha said as she sat down on the edge of Tony's bed.

"What did you do?" He asked.

"Barton, look at what she did to my son." Natasha gestured angrily towards the bed. "What do you think I did?" He shook his head, reaching for her with his other hand.

"So, we're probably going to get to keep him forever. What do you want to do with him first once we're officially married and his parents?" Clint asked. "I think we should get a dog."

"Or not. We could work on undoing all the horrible parenting she did. Try to get him better again." She said. "Then we should take a vacation. I'm thinking someplace we haven't had a mission and killed a bunch of people. Like Canada."

"Canada sounds like a dream vacation." Clint laughed. Tony stirred then, blinking up at the two of them.

"Canada, land of dreams and free healthcare. Let's go." Tony said, rubbing his eyes and moving to sit up. Clint pushed him back down into bed again quickly. He grumbled, made a pouty face, and laid back down. He wasn't injured. Tony could sit up. If anything, he was a bit hung over.

"Not right now, Tony. First, we want to talk to you." Clint said, smiling softly. "Then you have to get better." Tony groaned loudly. He hated talking, he went to a woman once a week so he wouldn't have to talk about anything important all the other days. "How was living with your mom? Tell the truth, we know when you're lying." Tony looked down at himself, quietly twirling his blanket around his fingers.

"I don't know. It wasn't as bad as you're thinking, I guess. I just like hiding under my bed when I get nervous. You guys know that. But my mom put boxes of Howards stuff under there so I couldn't fit down there and had nowhere to go. So I didn't sleep much most nights. I did get my robot built though." Tony said, shrugging. "So, I confronted her about moving the boxes out from under my bed a few days ago and she just went on and on about how Howard needed his things for when he got out of prison and moved back in. I didn't understand that because she was throwing my stuff out. Then she slept the day of my therapy appointment and I took the bus and missed it. Then I found my mom's stash of drugs and I fully intended to flush it, I really did. I just ended up not doing that."

"Tony, you should have called us if you were upset." Natasha said. "You will never again tough, look at, be in the same room as, or think about illegal narcotics again. Do I make myself clear?" Tony nodded quickly.

"Good, if you do this again you will be grounded forever, sent to the best rehab facility in the world, and then you will never again be allowed on your own." Clint said bitterly. "We're also adopting you and becoming your parents."

"You guys are crazy." Tony muttered.

"No, we love you. So don't do that shit again." Natasha said. Tony nodded.

"I'm sorry. I messed up." He said.

"It's fine, Tony. You're a human being and when you're under a lot of pressure you're allowed to make mistakes. But you will learn from this one." Clint said, pointing at the teen. "Grounded for a very very long time." Tony smiled.

"So, new parents, you guys love me." Tony said. Clint and Natasha nodded slowly. "Can I ask you why my mom and dad didn't? I understand it wasn't my fault. You guys did a great job at that, I just want to know why they couldn't love me." Tony frowned at the two agents, whose faces visibly darkened.

"Howard was an angry drunk who took out his frustrations on the closest thing he could get." Natasha said softly, glancing quickly at Clint. She looked back at Tony and stroked his hair. "Maria was a woman who couldn't handle being a mother. She couldn't take the responsibility and being self-less all the time." She kissed his forehead. Tony nodded.

"Alright, you guys can adopt me. I'll let you." Tony smiled. "Don't expect much, I don't do breakfast in bed on father's or mother's day. And I promise I won't do drugs again, I didn't even like it."


	45. Chapter 45

Tony wasn't feeling well the next day. Not in a sick sort of way, but in his familiar wanting to lay around and do nothing sort of way. He was pleased that they let him change out of the hospital gown and into his pajamas Natasha brought him. Thor brought Dummy down to his room. The robot looked him over furiously, gave everyone else what he could only describe as a death stare, and then brought Tony an empty cup.

"My apologies. Our mechanical friend has been watching quite a bit of medical shows on the television. He must have grown very worried of you." Thor said, taking the cup as Tony handed it to him. He leaned over and patted Dummy on the side. It aimed its camera intently at the IVs in Tony's arm and focused on it.

"Don't let your robot pull those out." Clint called out. Dummy looked up at him, wheeling around the bed to glare at him. "What? Back off, dude."

Tony rolled over to watch Dummy and Clint. Thor excused himself and Natasha went out to bring back lunch for the three of them. Clint began making faces at the robot that was now poking him over and over again. Tony pulled up his blankets around him and stared at the two of them.

"Gosh, Tony. You made a weird robot. I love it!" Clint smiled up at him. Dummy rolled over grabbed Clint's hand to drag him over to Tony. He sat down closer to the bed and Tony shrugged. Clint's smile dropped slightly.

He did what he always did on Tony's bad days. He dragged him out of bed. Tony had no idea how Clint and Natasha always knew, he never was good at hiding things from them. Clint picked Tony up and carried him over to the couch with Dummy dragging the IV pole behind them quickly. He wrapped Tony in his red blanket and opened the curtains to let in the sun before plopping down beside him.

"Can my mom _not_ go to jail?" Tony muttered, looking out the window. He felt Dummy prod his side gently and he reached out to stroke the robot gently. Clint sighed.

"You don't have to protect her anymore Tony. She can handle herself." Clint said. Tony continued to stare out the window, watching all the cars drive by the SHIELD building and looking out at the city and at the few trees where the leaves were beginning to change.

"I know and I don't plan on going back to her or anything. It's just…" He shrugged again. He couldn't quite find the words. He still loved his mother, didn't really blame her for any of this, he just thought she needed help too. Tony had all these people helping him when he couldn't handle things anymore and did stupid things and she didn't have anyone. "Please." He was all he managed. He avoided the man's eyes.

Clint looked him over. Tony fidgeted slightly and leaned into the couch to lay his head down. He sighed. Tony was staring out the window desperately, gripping the fabric of his shirt in one hand so hard that his fingers turned white but with the other hand he only shakily patted Dummy.

"You have to tell me what you're thinking, Tony?" Clint said softly. Tony didn't move. Clint thought quickly, trying to think of something to talk to Tony about that would get him talking again. He had to know what was going on inside Tony's mind to make sure it wasn't serious, especially after everything that just happened. Tony wanted to talk about his mom, that much he knew, Clint sighed. "Have I ever told you about my parents?" Tony frowned slightly.

"You were raised by a circus, Bozo." Tony muttered, glancing over at Dummy. Clint chuckled lightly.

"Before that. I still had parents." Clint said. "My mom's name was Edith. She was really nice. But my dad Harold, he was an ass. I guess he was a lot like yours, drunk and angry all the time." Clint stopped and looked over at Tony, who was finally looking back at him. He searched for any signs of fear or anxiety in the teens eyes, feeling a wave of almost relief when he saw none. Tony just looked at him with the same bored look he always had on these sort of days. He nodded, waiting for Clint to continue. "I kept trying to beat him up. Drove my brother, Barney, crazy. He said we would show him when we were bigger and stronger, but we would have to wait until then."

"Did you?" Tony asked. Clint looked back over to him. Tony seemed slightly more interested. He leaned towards him slightly while he pulled his blanket over his shoulders. "Did you beat him up when you were big and strong?" A small smile slipped past his lips as he asked and Clint almost cheered seeing it. He shook his head.

"No. They died in a car accident and then my brother and I ran away to the circus." He said. Tony looked away again, back out the window.

"Oh." He said quietly. They sat there for several minutes. Dummy wheeling around and bringing Tony numerous objects from around the room. Clint was about to say something else when the boy huffed a soft chuckle. "At least you got to beat up mine." Clint laughed, pulling Tony in closer and hugging him tightly.

"Yes, I did. Sorry about that, by the way." He said, feeling the boy relax against him. Tony didn't pull away, just continued to lean on him.

"It's okay. He deserved it." Tony sighed. He closed his eyes and buried his face into the archer's shirt. Tony thought back at the past few months of his life. All lot had happened since June, when he got on SHIELD's radar and moved in with them, he was kidnapped and hurt, he lived with the Avengers for a little while, then lived with Clint and Natasha for a long while. He liked living with the team and he liked living with Clint and Natasha. "Can we go home?"

"Soon." Clint said, reaching his hand up to stroke his hair. Tony nodded, remembering what he needed to do.

"My mom didn't do anything really bad. I remember being little and she would get so upset when Howard hit me and she would tell me I was okay and sing to me and it was nice. But after a while I don't think she could take it anymore and just went away. You said that if people are under a lot of pressure they're allowed to make mistakes. When I made a mistake I came back here, she couldn't go anywhere." Tony said, head still buried against Clint. "Just one more time."

"I'll see what I can do." He muttered. Tony sighed, pulling his blanket over the two of them.

"Where's you brother now?" Tony asked.

"He's around." Clint said. Tony nodded. Within ten minutes he was asleep. Clint wasn't very comfortable, sitting on the couch with a teenager leaning against his chest snoring, but he couldn't bring himself to move. He kept shooing Dummy away as it tried to pull the blanket down over Tony's feet.

Natasha came back with lunch, putting the food down on the table near him. She smiled slightly, pulled out her phone, and quickly took a picture. 'My boys' she mouthed as Clint stuck out his tongue. She sat down on the arm of the couch and they both ate their food quietly.

They finished their food and put Tony's lunch away for him to eat when he wakes up. Natasha pulled Clint's head into her lap and began stroking his hair. Bruce and Thor came back, smiling down at them. Clint gave them all threatening looks.

"Don't worry, I already took pictures." Natasha whispered to them.

"I want one." Bruce whispered back. Clint groaned, rubbing his face while Natasha nodded with a wicked smile.

"Well, my legs are falling asleep. I need to move." Clint said, gingerly lifting Tony up to make sure he stayed asleep. Thor quickly took the boy into his arms and carried him over to the bed with Bruce quickly dragging the IV pole behind. Clint stretched, yawning.

"I'll come with you. Make sure your walk doesn't lead you to get a second lunch." Natasha said, standing quickly. "Will you guys stay with him?" Bruce nodded, Thor had become distracted by Dummy wheeling about his feet.

Bruce sat down on the couch, watching Thor and the robot interact. They must have grown close while he was watching it. He quickly walked out into the hall, grabbing a newspaper off the front desk and returning. Sitting back down, he began on the crossword puzzle. The tv was turned on as Thor and Dummy stopped in front of it to watch Friends. They sat there for a while, quietly waiting for Tony to wake up or for Clint and Natasha to return.

An explosion from several floors down shook the building. Thor jumped to his feet as Dummy began racing around the room. Bruce looked out the window, seeing nothing from his view. A red light began flashing out in the halls and he turned quickly to Tony. The boy had jumped out of bed, ripping out his IV in the process and was hiding against the wall, tucked under the hospital bed. Bruce ran over to him as he saw the blood pouring steadily out of his arm.

"Tony, I need you to come out. You're al-" Bruce was cut off by another explosion, this one closer. Tony jerked away at the sound, pulling his arms up around him to protect the arc reactor and his head. Bruce's stomach dropped, the explosions were triggering him. "Sorry Tony, but I can't let you bleed to death." Bruce reached out and grabbed him, pulling him out from underneath the hospital bed gently. Tony laid limply, still trying to shield himself with his arms.

"I believe we are under attack." Thor said, reaching his arm out and waiting for Mjolnir.

"I figured that." Bruce said, struggling to pull Tony's arm free as gently as he could so he could examine it and wrap it. "SHIELD was supposed to have agents figuring out who the leaders were so this wouldn't happen!"

"They must not have found out in time." Thor said, grabbing his hammer as it burst through the walls and into his hand. Bruce managed to get a hold of Tony's arm, looking closely at the wound. He ran over to the cabinet and grabbed what he needed.

He held a dressing to the wound, applying pressure quickly. Once the flood flow slowed he applied a new dressing and wrapped a new bandage around it. Tony was still covering his head, flinching at every sound. Bruce lifted his head to listen. The explosions have stopped but he could hear gunfire in the distance.

Thor stood by the door, guarding the room. Dummy wheeled around quickly and brought Tony every small object around the room and dropped it by his head. Bruce looked up at Thor, who looked ready to go out to the rest of the building and fight.

"What are we going to do with Tony?" Bruce asked nervously, looking down at the terrified teenager who was breathing frantically. "We're under attack, he's not safe."


	46. Chapter 46

Bruce couldn't get him to calm down, no matter how softly he spoke or how comfortable he tried to make him a new wave of gunfire would sound close and close and send Tony deeper into a panic. He had never had to help Tony come back from something like this and he was frightened. It was always Clint or Natasha, he didn't know how to calm Tony down. Finally, he sent Thor out to see if he could defeat enough enemies to make it quiet enough.

Tony had tucked himself back under the bed, still holding himself and rocking slightly. Dummy scurried about the room, dragging him blankets, pillows, utensils, and his lunch. It left the objects at Tony's feet, watch him carefully and then leave to get another one. Tony didn't notice, he just kept holding himself and flinching at every loud noise. Bruce frowned at the boy's silent whispers, begging not to be shot.

Bruce didn't know what to do. He couldn't help Tony right now with everything that was going on, he couldn't let the other guy out to help with the fighting because that would leave Tony alone and defenseless, Bruce was at a loss. He needed serious help. Help came in the form of Maria Hill, bursting through the door and glaring over at him.

"You're still here? Why aren't you big, green, and fighting the people attacking us?" She asked, slamming the door behind her. Bruce shushed her, pointing sadly at Tony.

"I can't calm him down. I'm not that kind of doctor." Bruce said. She rushed over to check on Tony, examining the bandage wrapped around his arm. "He ripped out his IV. He put up a fight, but I did manage to get him out from under there and wrap it. He's scared."

Maria nodded. She began stroking Tony's hair before grabbing him lightly around the waist and dragging him out from under the bed. She put him down and leaned him against the opposite wall, pulling a stress ball from her pocket and putting it in his hands. Tony began to squeeze it frantically, eyes moving about quickly and he continued to take small, panicked breathes.

"Do you just carry around a stress ball all the time?" Bruce asked. Maria nodded.

"You should spend a week doing my job." She said. Agent Hill turned her attention back to Tony, using a firm yet calm voice to have him describe things laying around the room. Tony kept shaking his head, leaning into the gently strokes of his hair.

Bruce moved to the window looking out into the hallway, seeing armored SHIELD agents run by. He looked quickly back at Tony, relieved to see him taking slightly deeper breathes and being more responsive. "You're better at that than I am."

"Used to be his babysitter." Maria said quickly. "Tony, keep breathing. Deep breathes, okay?" She asked. Tony looked up at her, frowning. He looked around for a minute before nodding.

"Who?" Tony gasped out quickly, flinching at the sound of gunfire.

"It's the Ten Rings. They want revenge for us cutting off their main weapons supply when we took out Hammer Industries. All we had to do was get info on the leaders and we could have shut this whole thing down, but we didn't do it in time. Don't worry, you're safe with us." Maria said, pulling him in close. She looked back at Bruce. 'We have to move him.' She mouthed at the doctor. Bruce nodded.

"Tony, I'm going to go out and get rid of the bad people. Are you alright with that?" Bruce asked, walking over slowly. Tony grabbed his shirt along with Maria's and pulled them both close, breathing heavily. He shook his head quickly. "Hey, it's okay. It's not like they can hurt me." Tony kept his head buried in both of their shirts, nodding slightly. Then the grip on his shirt was gone and Tony sat and pulled his legs up around him.

Bruce stood, smiling reassuringly at the boy and at Maria who would stay with him until she could move him. He turned towards the door to go out and join the fighting, pausing to find the gun wielding men bursting through the door. They weren't SHIELD agents. Bruce pulled quickly on the Hulk, willing him to the surface when the men dropped to the ground. He looked back, green tinting his skin. Maria was pushed to the side, her gun taken from its holster and in Tony's hands.

Tony gripped the gun firmly, hands shaking and eyes darting around the room. He made a panicked whine as he glanced at the two men he shot. Maria picked herself up off the ground quickly and peeling the gun from his hands as she thumbed on the safety and pulled him in close.

"Imsorryimsorryimsorry. Oh god." Tony rambled quickly. He pushed away quickly and crawled desperately into the corner. Dummy wheeled up to him, examining him closely.

"Tony, those men were dangerous and would have tried to hurt us." Maria said, edging closer with her hands in front of her. "You did what you did to protect yourself." She said. Tony refused to look at her, just continued to stare at the men lying on the floor.

"I'll clear a path, where will you take him?" Bruce said, looking back at the door. The fighting was closer than ever. They had to move him now.

"Get me to the elevator. My ID card gives me access to the Avenger's floor. I'll lock us in your Hulk room and see if I can calm him down there." She said, moving over to Tony, who was no longer listening. He had gone completely blank except for his panicked breathing. She pulled Tony towards her, lifting him to stand up and leaning his weight onto her. She nodded at Bruce.

Bruce nodded back, taking one last look at Tony before leaving the room. He raced down the halls and towards the sounds of fighting as he released the Hulk and started smashing everything and everyone who wasn't SHIELD.

"We'll just give him a few minutes." Maria said when she heard the loud roar of the Hulk. Dummy rolled up, grabbing Tony's hand. They waited for about ten minutes before heading out the door.

The destruction wasn't as bad outside the room as it was down the hall, where it looks like the Hulk had started throwing people against the walls and then burst down through the floor. Hill led Tony carefully as he continued to block everyone and everything out down the hall, around the large hole in the floor, and to the elevator with Dummy in tow still holding onto his hand.

The three of them pushed into the elevator, wiping Maria's card, and pressed the button for the avenger's floor. She sighed as the elevator stopped to let on more armed SHIELD agents to let them off on a lower floor before taking them up to theirs. She lightly led Tony out in front of her onto the floor, Dummy wheeling out to check everything. She quickly started making her way towards Bruce's room, which was connected to a fortified room to contain the hulk, that her and Tony could hide out in when the crashed down above them.

Several unconscious men lay around as the hulk breathed angrily, looking about the room. Hill had thrown Tony over the couch and was laying over him, protecting him from falling debris or a possible attack. The Hulk turned quickly towards them, picking up Maria and looking her over. He huffed a breath in her face and plopped her down onto the couch.

Then he picked up Tony, holding him up and looking him over carefully. Tony's eyes drifted a bit and his breathing picked up slightly, but he still didn't seem to be paying attention and was still panicking just had he had several minutes ago. Maria jumped up from the couch, drawing her gun and aiming it at the Hulk.

"Hey, listen. Bruce? You have to put Tony down. He's not well right now and we have to put him in a safe location so we can calm him down." Hill said, walking slowly around the Hulk. He was still looking over the boy carefully. "Put the kid down." The Hulk looked up at her, pointing at the shining light from the arc reactor coming off Tony's chest.

"Night Light." Hulk said. "Night Light scared."

"Yes, he's very very scared." She said, still aiming her gun at the Hulk's head. She was just doing it to comfort herself, she knew it was no goddamn use against him. "We have to make him safe so we can help him not be scared. I promised Barton and Romanov I would when this all started happening."

"Protect Night Light." Hulk said. Maria nodded quickly.

"Yes, I can protect him. You can go do your job." Maria said. She frowned when she got an animalistic growl in response.

"Hulk protect Night Light." He said, plopping down on the ground, crushing the furniture. The Hulk began cradling Tony to his chest as Dummy began circling him quickly. Agent Hill sighed, sitting down across from him.


	47. Chapter 47

The hulk was curious about Dummy. As he continued to cradle a steadily calming Tony to his chest the scurrying robot kept circling around him on the ground. Maria Hill kept her eyes on every entrance to the floor. She gripped her phone tightly, waiting for someone (anyone at this point) to call in and give the all clear.

They had been hiding up on the Avengers floor for several hours and no one has come along so far. Tony was calming down, coming back to himself with deep shaky breaths as he stared up at the Hulk in confusion but said nothing. He glanced over at Maria quickly, furrowing his eyebrows and she offered him a gentle shrug.

"Hey, do you want to put Tony down now?" She said as a large green hand swooped down to swipe at Dummy. The robot continued to wheel around the hulk's feet, looking up at Tony every so often.

"No. Hulk keep Night Light safe and calm." The hulk said, glaring at Hill and ever so lightly pulling Tony closer. The boy reached over and patter the hand holding him gently.

"I need to talk to him." Maria said. The hulk looked down at Tony, who nodded slowly. He growled as he gently placed him on the ground in front of him. Tony made no move to stand, but looked up at Hill expectantly. She stood and walking slowly over to him, eyeing the hulk.

"Tony, do you remember how we got from your room down in Medical to this one?" Maria asked, sitting down an arm's length away from him. Tony shook his head, frowning slightly. "What's the last thing you remember?" Tony paused, his face visibly darkening as he looked up at Maria. She reached forward slowly, still eyeing the Hulk, and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"I….I did. No. I." Tony stuttered. He leaned forward quickly, taking his head into his hands. Dummy wheeled over and tugged at Tony's pajama shirt. The boy leaned over and rested his head on the side of the metal arm.

"Tony, you protected us. I didn't see them, Bruce wouldn't have turned Hulk in time to stop them from firing at us. You pushed me out of the way and you saved us." Agent Hill said. She ducked down to meet his gaze. "They were going to kill us, but you stopped it. Alright?" She stared at Tony straight in the eyes until he lifted his head and nodded. "Say it."

"Alright." He said quietly.

"Good. Now the three of us need to wait here until-" Hill stopped as the power shut off, leaving them in complete darkness. "Of course. Didn't know what else could have happened. Not even surprised at this point." She said bitterly, standing up as the emergency lights flicked on. They were a deep red that filled the room with little light.

"Are we staying?" Tony muttered. Dummy wheeled off quickly.

"No. We're evacuating. Without a connection to the main power grid the floor will start losing air." She said. Tony looked back up at her. "This is the Avenger's home, most secure area in the building. We can't have the air vents vulnerable." Tony nodded, standing slowly.

Tony was lifted quickly, the floor rushing from him, as the Hulk stood then and grabbed him. He looked up at the hulk, then back at Maria and frowned in confusion. She shrugged again and looked at the elevator. If the Hulk was insistent that he carry Tony then they probably wouldn't fit in there. Maria's train of thought was interrupted by the hulk also lifting her off of the ground and holding her close to his chest right by Tony. Dummy was circling down by the colossal green feet as fast as it could, pointing its little camera up at Tony.

"Tony, your robot is going to have to wait here for now." Agent Hill said as they were carried over to the large hole in the ceiling that had been blocked off by rubble. Tony looked over at her. He frowned and nodded.

"Dummy, I'll be back in a little while." Tony called out softly. The robot stopped over by the couch, still staring up at Tony. Then the hulk shifted the two in his arms into one hand and punched into the ground and they all fell onto the floor below.

The dust and debris settled around them as the hulk stood over them and swung around looking for attackers. They didn't see any when it was clear enough to make out the hallway. At least, they didn't see any immediate threat. The hall had several bodies lying around, some SHIELD and some not. The hulk put down Maria and Tony and roared down the hall. She reached forward and grabbed his hand as the boy jumped back at the loud sound.

"So loud." Tony muttered, rubbing his ears. "Indoor voices, big guy. Indoor voices."

Agent Hill pulled out her gun and started down the hall with Tony following slowly behind her and the hulk taking up the rear. She shot several members of the Ten Rings lurking about, Tony managing breathe through it, before they came across the first group of SHIELD agents. They kept their distance as they glanced up at the hulk, but informed them that the building was being evacuated of all SHIELD personnel and special ops forces have been sent in. Once the floor was cleared, the team left to move higher.

"Okay, hulk. You're freaking people out, I can't fit you in an elevator, and I don't think we can continue destroying the building." Maria said, turning towards Tony and the hulk behind him. The larger of them growled.

"Hulk protect Night Light." He said angrily. Maria sighed.

"Night Light will be safe. SHIELD's sweeping the building, I'm a highly trained and armed agent, and the best thing right now is to get out of the building without destroying it further." She said, holding a steady glare. He growled deep in his chest and looked quickly at Tony. The boy just shrugged.

The hulk grumbled, turning around and knocking stuff over as he walked down the hall and progressively shrank in size. When he returned to Bruce's normal size and color and collapsed onto the ground, Tony ran up to him. He pushed the doctor over onto his back and frowned down at him as Agent Hill came running up behind him. Bruce groaned, reached down to get a tight hold of his stretched and ripped pants, and then looked back up at them with exhausted eyes.

"This is usually the part of the mission where someone buys me dinner." Bruce muttered. He moved to sit up, whining at every agonizing stretch his muscles made. Tony knelt down beside him, looking him over worriedly. "Hey, how are you doing, kiddo?"

"Stop calling me a kid." Tony muttered, satisfied that Bruce wasn't dying. The man shook his head and stood up, still holding tightly on his now too large pants.

Bruce leaned some of his weight onto Tony as they began walking slowly down the halls towards the elevator. His whole body seemed to ache at once, but he tried to ignore that and instead tried to focus on how quiet Tony was being with the sad look in his eyes and the tight grip Hill still had on her gun as she led them forward, constantly looking back to check on them.

They turned the final corner towards the elevator. Maria stopped as she saw the SHIELD team they had seen earlier lying dead on the ground. Several heavily armed Ten Rings members stood over them and they looked up at her and shouted, pulling guns from their holster and firing. Agent Hill rushed back behind the corner, firing her weapon at the attackers and pushing Bruce and Tony behind her. She pointed to a supply closet and they rushed to it.

"This is quickly becoming the third worst day of my life." Tony said, sliding down the closet's wall and onto the floor. He hugged his knees and sighed. Maria locked the door and turned to question him when she saw Bruce pull a dart from his arm.

"Shit." She groaned.

"Well, I don't think they were shooting to kill." Bruce muttered. He examined his arm closely and looked at the dart. He began blinking quickly and glanced up at Maria. "Very powerful tranquilizer. Probably want the Hulk."

"They can't have him." Tony said, still huddled in his little corner. "I like him." Bruce nodded and began looking at his feet.

"Great, one minute the little genius is zoned out and needs protecting. The next the big genius is zoned out and needs protecting." Agent Hill said, checking her ammo and frowning. Tony looked up at her, confused.

"What?" He asked, leaning over and shaking Bruce who had passed out and was leaning over onto boxes of paper towels.

"Nothing. Just stay here and watch Banner. I'll go kill everyone." She said. Then several fumbling noises started playing out in the room. "Great, they must have found the floor's PA system. This is the part where the bad guys give a speech." Tony looked up at the ceiling expectantly as the fumbling sounds continued. Maria sighed and leaned on the wall.

"Well well. If we didn't stumble upon Agent Maria Hill, Nick Fury's second in command." A voice called out over the speakers. "And the legendary Bruce Banner. How is the hulk liking the little treat we gave him? Nice to meet you, I am Raza. Nice of you to join us in the very center of the building." There was a pause and Tony looked over at Bruce's sleeping form.

"Maybe they're not that tough." Tony whispered halfheartedly.

"Why don't we all play a little game? You leave us Banner and walk free or in fifteen minutes the explosives we leave here in the lobby will blow this SHIELD smear off the map. Along with all the remaining agents still inside." The voice, Raza, cut off then. They sat in the closet for a few seconds of silence.

"No." Tony muttered.

"Okay, continuing the plan. I still go out there and kill them. Then we get our asses out." Maria said quickly.

"What about everyone else? He said this was the middle of the building and the bomb would take it out. They could kill everyone." Tony said quickly. He began looking around the room frantically, avoiding looking at Maria and even sleeping Bruce. "What about Coulson and Steve and Nat and Clint and Dummy!? Thor is from another planet, he might be okay, but I still don't want him to be blown up too!"

"We just have to hope they get out. There's nothing we can do about the bomb." Maria said. Tony jumped up quickly and walked over to her. She nearly fell back at the suddenness in his actions.

"No no. They have to be okay. I need them to be okay." Tony said firmly, looking up at her desperately. "And… they taught me how to defuse a bomb. I can do that. We can save the building."


	48. Chapter 48

"What?!" Maria whispered loudly. "Who the hell taught you to defuse a bomb?" Tony paused, turning back to sleeping Bruce.

"Uhh, my new parents…" He muttered. "After my last…. experience. They wanted to make sure I knew how to handle a situation like that properly. In case I ever had to deal with another bomb. Which we are right now." Tony said, meeting her gaze. Hill frowned at him, Tony's body was visibly shaking and his eyes were wide.

"You don't have to do this. We can get a new building." She said. Tony shook his head.

"We don't know who is still inside. We can't get new them." Tony muttered. He took a deep breath and held her gaze steadily. "I can do this." Maria nodded.

"Alright. Here's the plan, we find our way to the lobby. You follow me and stay low. We find the damn thing, you do what you have to, and I cover you." She said, grabbing onto Tony's shoulder firmly. "You don't run off on your own and if I tell you to do something then you do it. Understand?" Tony nodded furiously.

Agent Hill opened the door to the supply closet slowly, looking down the hall to check for anyone. When she found that it was clear she signaled Tony to follow, closing the door behind them. The quickly and silently made their way to the middle of the floor, a large open space several desks in the room and six heavily armed intruders. It was the security room, in the middle of every floor in the building to monitor the place.

"I hate bad guys. I should have picked a different career." Maria said as she lifted her gun and turned from behind the corner. She fired three shot, missing her first, hitting one guy in the leg, and another right in the head. She dragged Tony behind her quickly as they darted behind the room and for the cover of one of the desks. Tony looked around quickly as he followed after her in his crouched position.

He saw it. Across the room, there was a tattered looking backpack stuffed under a desk. Tony could make out a few wires sticking out of it. That was it, the bomb. It was over by two angry screaming men who were shooting at them at them the moment they saw them. Maria pushed Tony beneath the desk and ducked behind it as a wave of bullets painted the wall behind them.

"Thank god SHIELD pays extra for stronger furniture." Hill sighed, patting the desk that was protecting them. Then she turned her eyes quickly towards Tony. "Did you see it?" Tony nodded. "Can we get to it with dying?"

"If you take out the two trigger happy idiots over there we might." Tony said. There were still five guys in the room, one of which was shot in the leg which made Tony cringe, but the man dragged himself into a corner and still had a gun in hand.

Maria nodded quickly, telling Tony to stay down she pushed herself around the side of the desk and fired several shots in the direction of the two. Gunfire exploded from all around, but she managed to take out one of them. She smiled when she saw the man jerk back and drop before she returned behind the desk. Tony stared down at her arm, a small stream of blood sliding down it.

"Just a graze." She told him. She knew where the other guys was this time and quickly jumped up, focused on her shot. Once he was dead, she dropped back down below the desk before anyone could react. "Get ready to move." She whispered to Tony. He was tucked under the desk tightly, holding himself, but still remained focused on her. He nodded.

She grabbed him forward and used her body to protect him. Hill counted slowly up to three and when she reached it they darted forward. She covered Tony as the sprinted, firing a few shots towards the other end of the room where the rest of the men were. Now there was just two guys and the injured one in the corner.

They made it to the cluster of desks where the bomb was without incident. Maria nodded at him as slowly crawled towards it, staying as low as possible but also trying desperately to not touch and yet not look at the two bodies lying near them. Tony opened the backpack and pulled it out. It was a bomb alright, he recognized the set up from the diagrams Nat showed him when they taught him. He could make out which wires went where and which ones to cut to stop it from going off. Now he just needed a knife.

He looked back at Maria. She was too busy shooting at the soldiers from the Ten Rings. Then Tony's eyes drifted down to the dead men. They had knives on them. He reached forward to grab one and stopped to stare at them. They were just like the two he shot. Tony's breath hitched as he pulled away with the blade. He killed two people.

Tony continued to look down at them. His thoughts traveled back to when he was alone and shot and how scared he was. He did that to people. He shot people. A new wave of gunfire hit the desks around them and pounded into the wall. Tony looked up quickly. Maria was yelling at him but he couldn't quite make out what she was saying. He looked back down, past the two dead men and at the knife in his hands.

Then he remembered what he was supposed to do. He snapped to attention, turning quickly back around at the bomb. They had a little over three minutes left. Plenty of time to do this. He was worried this would be like the action movies where he had seconds and then saved the day. Tony was not in the mood for that kind of pressure. He examined it closely to make sure he had the correct wire and cut it.

No explosion and the device seemed to die in his hands. He breathed a sigh of relief. He sent his thanks to Clint and Natasha and vowed to learn everything they ever had to teach him. He'll even take up archery that Clint was so excited to teach him.

"I did it." Tony muttered, sitting back. Maria gave a relieved curse as she plopped back against the desk. She pulled her phone out quickly.

"Looks like that thing was also messing with cell service. I have just received over twenty angry messages from your new parents." She said. She typed away as there was only one sound of gunfire behind her. "Told them what floor you're on. Let me take care of this last guy then we'll get Banner and get out of here so Barton and Romanov don't kill me." She said quickly.

Tony sat back with a sigh. His job was done and when he felt the familiar pull on his mind he took it, too stressed and tired to do anything else. He wasn't flooded with horrible memories this time. It was just like he stopped thinking and sat there staring into nothing.

Agent Hill had cleared the room with just the graze on her shoulder, Tony wasn't hit at all, and the bomb was disarmed. She considered it a win. Then she looked back to see that Tony was once again unresponsive, just as he was earlier that day. She scanned the area one last time to make sure everyone was dead and it was safe to bring Tony out.

"Alright, you just rest. You did great." She said, helping the boy stand. She slowly began to lead him away from the scene of their big shoot out, trying to talk Tony through grounding exercises and hoping he was listening. They made their way towards the hallway that had the supply closet in the Bruce was sleeping in. She would have to drag him out and then just sit with the two of them until help arrived.

Then Tony was ripped from her hand. She turned around quickly, raising her gun. She knew she didn't have much ammo left, but she only saw one guy so it wouldn't matter. The man Held Tony firmly, his arm securely around Tony's neck. That action alone seemed to snap Tony out of his mind and bring him back to reality as he started kicking around and clawing at the arm around his neck. He begged softly to be let go, but the man just held him tighter.

"Agent Hill. You killed my men. Destroyed my attempts to blow this shit of a building off the map. Now, how about a new deal? The boy you've been protecting for the hulk." The man said bitterly. He backed away quickly with Tony in tow.

"Raza?" Maria asked, still aiming her gun up at him. "Also, the bomb was the stupidest idea I've ever seen. It would have taken you and your people out too had it gone off."

"We're rather determined." He said.

"You seriously don't know what you're doing right now." Maria warned. Raza shrugged, tightening his hold on Tony's neck as the boy gasped out desperately.

Then his arm was ripped away from Tony and he was being flipped through the air. Raza hit the ground with a thud and was knocked out by a sharp kick to the head. Natasha Romanov stood over him, glaring at the unconscious man for several seconds. Tony whined and stumbled to the wall for support. He slid down it and pulled his legs up to him. Clint Barton ran past Nat, who was still glaring at the unconscious man. He crouched down in front of Tony, holding his hands out in front of him to show that he wasn't going to hurt him.

"Tony, it's Clint. Are you okay?" Clint asked softly. Tony looked up at him. Clint looked terrible, he was bleeding out of his nose and had several scratches and bruises. Tony was shocked he was asking about him.

"Is he gone?" Tony whispered. That man had held him so firmly around the neck Tony almost couldn't breathe. It reminded him to much of the harsh, unfeeling fingers Howard had when he held him down and squeezed at his throat. Clint nodded carefully.

"Yeah. Nat kicked his ass." He said, leaning forward slightly. "Don't worry, Tony. If anyone ever hurts you, we will beat them up every time. We're going to take care of you." Tony nodded, leaning forward. Clint wrapped his arms around the boy and took a deep breath. The attack was finally over.


	49. Chapter 49

The building was destroyed. From the numerous explosions that they set off to distract kill or distract the SHIELD agents inside and the hulk smashing his way through, they had to abandon it for a hellicarrier. Clint and Natasha escorted Tony to the Medical Bay where he was hooked up to machinery to monitor his heart and lungs for any complications from his earlier overdose.

Tony ended up sitting for several hours in his room and watched the clouds float by from the window, Bruce still asleep in the bed beside him. Clint and Natasha had something important to do, promised they would be back as soon as they could. Thor congratulated him on his good work saving everyone and had gone off to London to see Jane now that the threat was over and he was allowed to leave. Steve sat with them, shield still in hand.

"So we captured a bunch of them. Coulson says we're getting a lot of names. They need Natasha since she's technically their top interrogator." Steve said, rambling softly. "It's pretty crowded so they said that if you seem okay they're going to probably let you go tonight. I know we promised to take you to Coney Island when you got back, we're still going to do that but first I think Clint and Natasha want to take you home and relax." Steve shrugged. Bruce groaned, rolling over.

"You talk so much." Bruce sighed, rubbing his face and looked about the room. Tony smiled over at him. "Oh, good. We won. I was a bit worried, what with being knocked out."

"It's okay. You slept through me saving the day and all of your miserable lives." Tony said, sitting up in bed. "I was pretty amazing." Bruce frowned, looking over Tony groggily.

"What did you do?" Bruce asked, rubbing his eyes and moving to sit up. "Knowing you, it was something incredibly dangerous and reckless or you bought all the attackers pizza and they surrendered." Steve chuckled.

"All I did was defuse a bomb that was heavily guarded by baddies. I wasn't in any danger. Agent Hill was with me." Tony said, shrugging as Bruce started staring at him.

"I inspected the area when they sent in the team to clear out the bomb, the room was a mess." Steve said. Tony could hear the annoyance and worry radiating off of him. "I'm shocked you weren't shot."

"I told you. Maria was watching my back. I was fine." Tony said. Bruce sighed softly.

"Why did you do that, Tony?" He asked, sitting up in his bed. Tony shrugged.

"Uh, because if the whole building blew up it would have killed everyone inside. In case no one noticed, you guys were inside." Tony smirked.

"Okay, so you succeeded in saving the building. Good work, you did a good thing. I'm grateful that you saved all of us." Bruce said, still frowning. "But what if you were shot?" Tony looked away from Bruce. Steve's gaze was as intense and questioning as Bruce's so Tony decided to just stare at his hands. "We would be upset if something happened to you, you know that right?" Tony nodded.

"I do." Tony muttered. "I'm just not entirely sure why." Tony didn't bother looking up. He heard the disappointed hums coming from the two men. He knew it wasn't right, that they did genuinely care about him. It was just he always had these little thoughts in the back of his head that told him they weren't behaving correctly, that they shouldn't be this nice and shouldn't care about him this much. He was always expecting it to go bad and one of these days he would get hurt again and just be left alone to take care of himself. That was what he was used to.

"Is this about me? Do you still think I am going to hurt you?" Steve asked desperately. Tony's eyes snapped up to him.

"No, Cap. Nothing to do with you. I know you guys wouldn't hurt me. I just don't know why you guys care so much when I do get hurt. Or even when I don't, you guys are always just….here." Tony said. Bruce stood up and walked slowly, still waking up, over towards one of the seats closer to Tony's side of the room.

"Was that not a normal thing before?" Steve asked softly as Bruce sat down next to him. Tony shook his head softly.

"Okay, we love you because we're your family now. We care about you. We don't want you to get hurt because it makes us unhappy to see you in pain. We always make sure someone is here with you because we want to always make sure you're happy and alright." Bruce said. He sat there silently, waiting for Tony's response.

He nodded, it still didn't sound right to him but he didn't feel like arguing. If they wanted to stay with him to make sure he's alright then they could, they could do whatever they wanted. Tony laid back down, facing the window and watching the clouds and the distant ground rushing past below.

OOOOOO

That night they did end up releasing him from the Med Bay. SHIELD dropped off Tony and all the Avengers just outside of the city. They had someone retrieve Clint's car so they could drive back and find a place to stay. With Thor off in London visiting there were just enough seats for Clint and Nat to take the front and Tony to squeeze between Bruce and Steve, with much complaining.

"God, I'm suffocating back here. No room. Can't breathe." Tony said as he pushed against the two men he was sitting between. "Either _someone_," Tony stopped to glare at Steve, "stops being a giant man-mammoth, a manmoth. Or Clint gets a different car." Clint let out a harsh, throaty laugh.

"This is a 1970 Dodge Challenger. You don't know what I had to go through to get this car." Clint said, patting the steering wheel. "We'll get another one, but we're also keeping this one."

"This car only has two doors. Cap had to crawl into the back." Tony said, smiling.

"Well, you don't expect me to climb into the back seat, do you?" Natasha said. Tony shrugged.

"Whatever. So, where are we going?" He asked, looking past the again sleeping Bruce, apparently hulking out made him very tired, and out the window. "Finally taking our family vacation to Canada?"

"Nah, not yet. I have an apartment in Brooklyn. Nice neighbors. Probably have the team stay there until the wedding." Clint said. "It's October now, we were thinking a December wedding."

"You still have to help us work out the details, Tony. We decided to have it small, not to extravagant. Just the people we're close to. Clint wants pizza, I want a nice buffet with an assortment of sides and entrees." Natasha said, glaring softly at Clint.

"An assortment of pizza could be our buffet." He replied back. "Everyone likes pizza."

"Why not both? Like when you go out to buffets and there is literally everything you could possibly want and then pizza." Tony sighed. "At least you guys are past the talks about fireworks and horses and are moving on to actually wedding talk." He smiled at the two in front of them.

"Horses and fireworks?" Steve asked. Tony nodded. Steve leaned down close and whispered in the teen's ear. "We should find out what bakery their using and get them to change the cake so it looks like giant hawk flying away with a spider in its mouth. It can be done. I've seen Cake Boss." Steve said quietly. Tony chuckled softly and nodded.

"Don't you dare." They heard Natasha say firmly from the front seat. It wasn't long until they arrived at the apartment building. It was different, nicer, than the one he lived in with his parents but a little more run down than the one he lived in with Clint and Nat.

They shook Bruce awake and went upstairs. It was getting late so the first thing they did was assign bedrooms, there were three. Tony got the smallest one since he would be sleeping alone. Clint and Natasha had the room right across the hall, which was a comfort Tony accepted because he had had a stressful past few days and if he needed them they would be close. Bruce and Steve would be sharing the room down the hall by the bathroom.

Tony collapsed immediately into bed. This was where Clint stayed when he wasn't on the base, so he was there regularly to was everything and make sure it stayed in as decent enough condition. Tony's sheets were clean and he inhaled the scent of the laundry soap as he got comfortable. He could hear the sound of water rushing through the pipes towards the bathroom as someone started taking a shower, people talking in the other room, the neighbors tv playing some cartoon theme song, and nothing remotely dangerous.

He felt relieved. He didn't feel as horrible and unimportant as he did when he was with his mother. He was out of the hospital so he knew he was okay. Although Tony didn't quite understand the overprotective, caring nature of these guys, he did sorta like it and it made him feel safer even if it wasn't familiar. He felt like he was exactly where he needed to be, somewhere he had never been but with just the right people.


	50. Chapter 50

Tony woke with a start. His heart was racing and he could feel sweat running down his entire body. He wasn't entirely sure what it was he was dreaming about, but looking around the room made his breathing worse. He couldn't recognize where he was. Tony didn't think he had ever been in this room before.

He looked about his blankets, frowning when he didn't find the one he was looking for. He shouldn't be here. He had to get out. Tony stood up quickly and stumbled through the darkness and out of the room. He slammed the door behind him and slid down it, holding his face. He tried desperately to take a deep breath because he knew what was happening, he was panicking. Tony knew how to calm down but he couldn't manage to get in a single deep breath.

He looked around quickly. This wasn't right, this wasn't anywhere he recognized. Tony remembered being at his mom's place, then being at the hospital, and he remembered the whole place going to hell but he didn't know where this was now. He covered his head in his hands and let out a soft whine.

His eyes snapped up quickly when soft hands ran themselves through his hair. Natasha was here, she was going to take him home. Tony leaned towards her slightly, ignoring the fact that they were all in their pajamas. She was a spy, she could still kick ass in her pjs.

"You're going to be alright. You're safe." She said softly. "I'm here." Tony nodded quickly.

"Where? I don't know where I am." Tony whispered. He looked up at her, continuing to hold his head. Natasha nodded.

"We're at Clint's apartment." She said. "It's in Brooklyn. We moved in last night and most of our stuff isn't here yet. Bruce and Steve are sleeping down the hall. We're here and you're safe." Tony nodded, still gasping slightly.

"Hold your breath." Clint said, walking up closer and kneeling down. Tony nodded again and when he inhaled again he forced himself from letting it back out. "You feel like you're not getting enough air because you're letting it out too soon. Okay, let it out." Tony did, holding in another breath after he exhaled. He continued doing that until his heart began to slow down and his breathing was calmer.

"Sorry. I woke you up." Tony muttered quickly. He rubbed his face as he began to feel exhausted. It must have been early. He looked back up at them, Natasha looked like she jumped out of bed and Clint wasn't even wearing his hearing aids. Tony sighed and began signing. _"I slammed the door. I didn't mean to do that. Sorry."_

"Hey it's fine. We don't care. We just want you to be okay." Clint said. "You want to see if you can get some rest or go see if we can get Nat to make middle of the night waffles?" Tony smiled softly.

_"Waffles."_ He signed. The three of them stood and walked away. Clint went to retrieve his hearing aids and then followed Tony towards the living room. Natasha whispering behind them about Clint volunteering her to make food without her consent.

Tony sat down on the couch, looking around at the apartment just as the kitchen light came on. The paint was peeling and the floors creaked a little as they walked and the place just seemed like Clint. There were bows hanging on the walls, a man shaped target on another, all the furniture was well used and taped together. Clint seemed so comfortable in the place. Tony almost relaxed at seeing him melt into the couch next to him and hearing Nat fumble around in the kitchen.

Almost. There was the ratty recliner sitting right by the couch, unoccupied and Tony had the feeling it was glaring at him. Unlikely, he knew that because it was a chair. But he kept staring right back at it. He hated it, he hated why he hated it, he hated how he felt around it, and most of all he hated how Clint noticed his breath pick up slightly and how he was staring at it and jumped up to drag it out the door. It was an old chair, who knows how long he had it, and Tony was both happy and sad that he got rid of it right then for him.

Clint came back into the apartment a few minutes later, greeted by a plate of waffles, giving a whispered speech about how it was about time he threw some of his torn up crap out and bought new furniture, now that he was starting a family. Tony sighed, feeling like a burden again and began to pick at his waffles. Natasha slightly burned them, but she insisted that it made them crispier and refused to let them have syrup. She sat down on Tony's other side.

"No sugar this early." She said firmly. Clint sighed and began eating at his waffles.

"Honestly, when did you become the boss? Got you a job at SHIELD and can't even have syrup on my burnt waffles." Clint grumbled. Tony felt like laughing.

"I'm thankful for the job, but it's two in the morning and you're not getting hopped up sugar right now and I made the waffles so if you don't like them you can go without." Natasha barked back. There was a soft playfulness in their voices, like they weren't really arguing and this was a natural part of their day. In fact, Tony lived with them for several months and knew they would fake argue just for the sake of arguing even when they weren't at all mad. Tony found it oddly comforting.

"Well, if I wanted to eat shit waffles I would go to a waffle house. I demand quality at home." Clint said, waving his burnt waffle about dramatically.

"And you demand me to provide quality?" Natasha asked calmly. Clint paused then, glancing first at her and then at Tony.

"I demand nothing of you. Do whatever you want. You're beautiful and smart. I love you." Clint said quickly before turning back to his food. Natasha gave a satisfied hum and Tony leaned forward to hold in laughter. Clint smiled brightly and began patting his back.

"You guys are weird." Tony muttered when he was done.

"Must be a family trait." Clint said, sticking his tongue out.

"Well, legally you guys aren't my family yet so there is no way I can inherit your weird." Tony said. He finished the last of his food and put his plate down on the coffee table. He noticed it immediately, they stopped talking and shared a look and Tony wanted to know what they were thinking. "What?"

"Well, yesterday before we were dropped off and made the drive back over Phil gave us your adoption paperwork." Clint said calmly, looking Tony over. "We were going to talk to you before we sign it. We should wait to talk about this until the morning though." Tony looked forward at Clint's pitiful tv setup for a moment. He didn't have anything plugged in correctly, not the cable box or the dvd player.

He was nervous. His last experience with parents hadn't gone so well. But then it was really a bad time from the beginning. The first time he met Natasha she was lying about her identity to gain information on him and then interrogated him and the first time he met Clint he was threatening him with a prank war and that he should 'hide everything he loves'. But almost immediately after that things had been wonderful. They protected him, fed him, comforted him when he was afraid, and loved him. Tony was relieved. If they signed those papers they couldn't abandon him at any moment and, these were smart people, this meant they never intended to.

"What do I call you guys?" Tony asked, biting his lip to hold back a smile.

"Whatever you want!" Clint said happily. "You can keep calling us Clint and Natasha. Or you can call me papa, if you like. Tasha calls me dumbass sometimes, but you can't because you're already grounded."

"So, what's going to change once it's done?" Tony asked. If it was going to be different, he would like a heads up. He wanted it to be like those wonderful months back when the three of them lived together but he also wanted to stay close to the team and live with them like he did before the three of them moved out. Mostly, he just didn't want it to be like living with his last parents.

"Probably not a lot will change." Nat said softly, leaning over and stroking Tony's hair. "We'll probably have our own place close to the rest of the team. We'll find stuff for you to do so you won't be bored, maybe once you feel up to it send you to a college close by. You'll stay with us. In case of missions, unless it's some big end of the world thing not all of us go so we'll always have an Avenger ready to stay with you. Probably Phil too, he likes you a lot. Then we'll do family activities, like monopoly or family outing to the shooting ring. Since you mastered sign language we'll focus on your Russian."

"хорошая идея." Tony said. Natasha smiled and nodded. Natasha tip-toed quickly to their room and rushed back with a brown envelope. She took out all the paperwork and looked up at Tony, smiling softly.

"Are you sure?" She asked, holding the pen softly in her hand. Tony nodded.

"Yeah. I'm sure." He said. It was happening. Natasha began scribbling down onto the page. They were becoming his parents and the bad things would stop happening now. They never once did anything to hurt him and they would continue doing that forever because Tony was finally getting good parents. She pulled back and smiled, pushing the papers over to Clint.

"What's the date?" He asked.

"October 21st in the really early morning. It's a good date." Tony beamed. "In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the working electrical light. Oh, and in 1915, the first transatlantic telephone was made. A very good date." Tony said, falling back on his memory of electronics.

"And the time?" Clint asked as he continued the scribble.

"2:48 in the morning." Natasha said. "I'll fax it in to Phil in a more appropriate hour."

"We'll have to celebrate ever year." Clint said, putting the paperwork back into the envelope.

"Why? Because of the lights and the telephone? I know, it's cool." Tony said, yawning slightly. "We should google it to find out what other cool stuff went on."

"Women gained the right to vote in France in 1945." Natasha said.

"And Tony Stark officially became my son. This year." Clint said, pulling Tony in for a hug and gesturing for Natasha to join. She sighed softly and leaned into the embrace. "We should order pizza later to celebrate." Clint said, ignoring Nat's groan.


	51. Chapter 51

**Author Note- reposting this chapter because I have no idea how the formatting messed up but I apologize. Thanks gemcat167 for letting me know! **

Tony ended up falling asleep when Clint decided to bust out his dvd set of the original Star Trek series and fiddled with his tv for an hour confused about why his dvd player wasn't working. Tony would have offered to help, but hearing Clint curse under his breath at the expanse of wires was almost too hilarious. Natasha did end up laughing at him, huffing a breath and turning to Tony with a smirk to show she could also help but wasn't going to. Tony just ended up giving in to his exhaustion, head falling onto the back of the couch and snoring softly.

Coulson and Maria arrived two days after Natasha faxed in the papers. He brought in boxes of their stuff that was left at the destroyed base. Tony opened the boxes, ignoring the silent cheers as everyone else pulled out their things. Dummy was curled up in the box, no one had plugged him in so he must have been running around the Avengers floor until his batteries died out. Tony frowned down at the robot. He had promised it he would be right back and it was just left in the blown apart building for who knows how long.

Tony plugged Dummy into the closet socket he could. It would be a few hours before it was fully charged again and wheeling around so he would wait. He returned to his box of leftover possessions already feeling his mood dampening and forgetting the previous good days he had had with Bruce letting him eat whatever he wanted, him fixing Clint's dvd player so that they all could marathon movies, and the general happiness the past few days had because they all felt the need to celebrate becoming Tony's official family. Tony wasn't feeling happy at all now, he failed Dummy.

He did feel relieved seeing his red blanket in the box. They had left that in his hospital room. He grabbed it quickly and wrapped it around himself, taking in the comfort. He closed his eyes and continued to sit there. He made Dummy, he had an obligation to take care of it, and he promised he would be right back but he left him there. He abandoned Dummy. Suddenly he was being lifted up.

"Come on. Why don't you, me, and Phil go for a walk around the neighborhood. We'll get caught up. Get some pizza and fresh air." Clint said. Tony shook his head quickly and pushed away from the man.

"What? No. I have to wait here for Dummy." Tony said, rewrapping himself in his blanket and sitting back down.

"Nope, I am your father and you are also very grounded so you have to do whatever I say." Clint said, pulling him up again.

"Also, your robot won't be charged for a few hours." Bruce said, walking towards it as it sat unmoving by the outlet. He leaned in and examined it closely. "It really is impressive, Tony. I can't believe you made it out of a bunch of spare parts." Tony nodded slowly as Clint and Coulson led him to the front door. He handed his blanket over to Natasha, if they were making him go outside he wasn't going to walk around with it. Clint stopped to pull a sweater over Tony's head before heading out.

He took the stairs slowly, whining all the way down. Once they were out into the sun he complained softly even more. He shouldn't be here, he should be back in the apartment. Clint grabbed his hand and started dragging him down the street towards a pizza place. Tony looked back at Coulson for help, but the man only shrugged and followed. The three of them must have looked pretty ridiculous, Clint was in jeans and stained up hoodie, Coulson was wearing a suit, of course, and Tony was just being dragged along in his pajama pants and sweatshirt.

"I don't see why you had to drag me out. I was just fine." Tony muttered, taking his slice of pizza and followed them out of the restaurant.

"It's a beautiful, sunny day. We won't have many of these pretty soon, it'll be all snow and cold and grossness." Clint said quickly. "Plus, you don't think I notice when you're falling into a funk? Sitting around and hiding from the world is not what you're going to be doing for the next few hours. We're taking a walk in the outside with the sunshine." Clint wrapped an arm around Tony's shoulder and pulled him close. He took a large bite of his pizza and waved Coulson forward.

"I thought I was grounded." Tony muttered. "Doesn't grounding usually mean I'm not allowed to go out? Like stay in my room and shit?"

"Watch your language. And no, I don't pull that. That sounds messed up. Your grounding is more of not allowed to pick movies on movie night, no say in what anyone makes for dinner, I get to pick what color we paint your room, and the next time you decide to go into a shoot out to get to a bomb," Clint leaned in to whisper angrily, "you will be so grounded you wish you didn't let two assassins become your parents because you'll never be allowed to go near another SHIELD base or anything more technologically advanced than an old 90's flip phone again. We taught you that for emergencies, not so you could run into enemy fire towards the nearest bomb you could find." Clint smiled wickedly at him before turning back to his pizza.

"In his defense. He did save the building and everyone in it. Including you, me, Romanov, himself, and hundreds of others." Coulson said, walking up beside them. Tony smiled softly at them man, who shrugged.

"Yeah, hear that. I saved hundreds of people." Tony smirked back at Clint. "I'm practically an Avenger at this point." Clint let out a forced laugh and shook his head.

"An Avenger who will never do anything like that again!" He sighed. "Rule number one, unless there is no other choice you will always run away from danger. Rule number two, you don't touch your parent's stuff. Rule number three, we will be sneaking pizza multiple times a week that we will not be telling Tasha about. In fact, extension to the rule, if I tell you not to tell her something it means my life is on the line and you can't tell her. She would kill me if I found out I used her deodorant that one time I was out." Tony laughed, leaning away from Clint and towards Coulson, who was struggling to hold his laughter in.

"What?!" Tony gasped out.

"I was out and forgot to get more. Also, I smelled like a field of flowers all day so I see no problem in it." Clint said, taking another bite out of his pizza. "Glad to see you're feeling better. What made you upset anyway?"

"Dummy. I told him I would be right back, but I left him up there by himself and he just ran about until his batteries died and I never came back for him." Tony said, shrugging as he walked pasts the crumbling buildings and grungy sidewalks.

"I don't know much about robot feelings, but it's probably not upset." Clint said, giving Tony's shoulder a gently squeeze.

"I bet that when it wakes up it'll just dart around and be happy to see you." Coulson said. "I've seen the security footage from the base, it held your hand all while Agent Hill took you up to the Avenger's floor. It likes you." Coulson nodded reassuringly.

"I still left him there. The whole building was being torn to pieces and he was all alone until he shut down." Tony sighed.

"Well, I'm no expert on robot feelings but he'll probably just be glad you're alive, just like all the rest of us." Clint said. Tony nodded, frowning at the slight throbbing coming off of his leg. They had walked really far and it was taking its toll. He was feeling better, Clint always knew how to do that. It was good to be spending time with Coulson again too but now they should start heading back or his leg would just start getting worse and one of them would have to start carrying him. Tony was about to propose the idea of heading home when Clint got distracted.

"Oh my god, look at the dog." He rushed off at the dog sitting on the street corner.

"Don't pet it." Coulson said. "It's a stray, it'll probably bite you." Clint looked back and then down at the dog.

"Nah, he's just hungry." Clint said and handed down what was left of his pizza. The dog whined happily and ate it, licking Clint's hand. "Aww, see. He's a good boy." The dog was sitting calmly in front of them, waiting for more food. Tony handed down his half eaten piece of pizza too. The dog was filthy, was missing an eye, and had several cuts on its side. It ate Tony's pizza excitedly.

"You do realize he's probably going to follow you home now, right?" Coulson said.

"I fail to see a problem with that. What household doesn't need a dog?" Clint said, bending down to pet him, getting his face licked furiously in return.

"Didn't Nat say once that you couldn't get a dog?" Tony asked, trying to pull Clint away.

"She only said that a few times." Clint said, gently lifting the dogs face up to look at Tony. "Look at him, he likes you Tony. We'll tell her we got him for you. Animals are great with therapy and she'll be forced to let us keep him." Tony shook his head.

"Barton, you're living in the apartment you keep for when you stay off base with four other people, all the rooms are full, Tony has a moveable robot with a mind of its own, and you want to bring in another thing that will make a mess." Coulson said, his tone tired but not the least bit surprised.

"What if he tries to eat Dummy?" Tony asked, his heart skipping a few beats. Clint wanted the dog, he seemed like a good dog, but to him Dummy would look like a fancy chew toy. Tony would have to protect Dummy this time. He inhaled sharply, slightly afraid.

Just then the dog jump up onto him and licked his face gently. It nuzzled its way under chin and looked up at him. Clint stood up happily and pulled out his phone, taking a quick picture of the dog snuggling up against him.

"We won't let him get to Dummy, I promise." Clint said. Tony frowned slightly, earning a lick to the face from the dog. He promised the robot he would only be gone for a little while and that didn't work out. "As for the mess, Tony's the one who's grounded so he'll take care of most of it." Tony groaned then.

"He smells like garbage. Nat's not going to believe for a second he is some ridiculous therapy dog. And you want to keep him, why do I have to take care of him?" Tony cried out.

"Only sometimes, I will help. We'll give him a bath." Clint said. "Do you want to keep him, Tony?" Clint said, looking intently at him. The dog dropped down to Tony's feet and went back to Clint, licking his hand. He would make sure the dog didn't get to Dummy, but mostly Clint really wanted him and he couldn't ask him to give this up for him.

"Sure we can keep him, but you have to give him his first bath." Tony said, Clint cheered and bended down to pet the dog furiously. "What will we call him?"

"Well, he's ending up with you guys and destruction follows the Avengers where ever they go." Coulson said, giving a sympathetic look down at the dog and then over to Tony. "Why not Lucky?"


End file.
